Round By Round: Pavlik vs. Lockett

HBO shows a feature before the fight about Pavlik's life in his hometown of Youngstown, OH. It focuses on Pavlik's notoriety around Youngstown and also his charitable nature.

The main event is between undefeated champoin Kelly Pavlik vs. Gary Lockett. Lockett is a middleweight from Wales. He comes from the Joe Calzaghe/Enzo Calzaghe camp. There has been a whole lot of trash talking between Team Pavlik and Team Lockett. I can't wait to see it unfold in the ring. Lockett only has 1 loss but many complain that he has not faced and top opponents.

The crowd is not surprisingly there for Pavlik since the drive from Youngstown to Boardwalk Hall is a relatively short one.

Rd 1: Pavlik darts to the middle of the ring. Lockett starts throwing first. Kelly now starts with the counter punches. Nothing hard landed so far. Kelly lands a good jab. Both fighters are throwing good crisp punches. Lockett is doing a good job with keeping his gloves up. Now Lockett establishes the jab. Pavlik now lands a hard right hand. Lockett momentarily stunned. Lockett shakes out the cobwebs and now comes back. Pavlik keeps his composure and sticks to his boxing technique.

Spartan117: 10-9 Pavlik

Rd 2: Lockett now starts to move his upper body. This is important when going against the power of Pavlik. Pavlik trying to set up combos with his jab. Pavlik lands a good hook to the body. A mark has formed on the forehead of Lockett, but I didn't see a clash of heads. Pavlik last a huge combo of big shots and Lockett can't take it and takes a knee. Lockett gets up and starts swinging but takes a lot more punishment. His face is a mess. Pavlik sticks with the combos and lands cleanly. Lockett somehow stays in there. He gets clocked with another power shot and he takes a knee again. 10 seconds left in the round and Lockett makes it out of the round.

Spartan117: 10-7 Pavlik

Rd 3: Lockett now keeping his gloves very high. Now Lockett is starting to swing for the fences becuase that looks like the only way hes going to win this fight. Pavlik lands an uppercut inbetween the gloves. Lockett stays in there. Lockett gets hit with a very rough counter straight and makes him look lost in the ring. He takes another knee. Enzo Calzaghe throws in the towel!

Pavlik wins by TKO in rd 3.

Pavlik says he looked out Lockett's for right hands in the fight. Pavlik says that he will take anyone Top Rank throws at him but doesn't say he's looking to fight anybody in particular. Max mentions Arthur Abraham. Pavlik takes a jab (no pun intended) at Calzaghe and hints that he might want to fight him. He asks the crowd "is that what you want to see?"

I would definitely want to see that fight!