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Though Kelly never knocked Rubio down, he absolutely dominated the fight start to finish.



Pavlik rebounds with win over Rubio
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Associated Press

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- No longer perfect, Kelly Pavlik is still the best middleweight in the world.

Dominating overmatched Marco Antonio Rubio from the start, Pavlik emphatically rebounded from his first career loss Saturday night by stopping the Mexican challenger after the ninth round before a raucous hometown crowd that arrived more than 5 hours early to see its hero.

The pride of Youngstown gave them something to remember.

Pavlik outclassed and outpunched Rubio almost the entire fight, hurting him in the eighth round and battering him throughout the ninth, after which Rubio's corner decided he couldn't continue.

"There's no place like home. There was a lot of pressure on me for this fight but it's great to bounce back in my hometown," Pavlik said. "It was electric."

It was just the second time Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) had fought in his hometown since 2001, long before he stunned Jermain Taylor to win the WBO and WBC middleweight titles. In his only other defense since then, the scrawny middleweight champion stopped unheralded Gary Lockett in the third round in Atlantic City, N.J.

Carrying tremendous momentum away from that fight, Pavlik accepted a 170-pound bout against Bernard Hopkins last October. Battling bronchitis and a troublesome elbow leading up to it, the savvy ring veteran dominated Pavlik in a surprisingly one-sided loss.

Rubio proved to be the perfect antidote for any hangover.

The 28-year-old Mexican (43-5-1) had won nine straight since moving up from junior middleweight, but he was clearly overmatched in this one. The straight-ahead puncher, who earned the title shot by beating Enrique Ornelas on the Pavlik-Hopkins undercard, didn't have enough movement and defense to stay with the taller, stronger champion.

"We kept him going backwards," trainer Jack Loew said. "We saw in the tape that Rubio had trouble fighting backwards. That was our plan and Kelly executed it perfectly."

Pavlik landed a devastating left midway through the opening round, dictating the tempo right from the start. Looking light and fresh on his feet, Pavlik often backed Rubio into his own corner, landing body shots virtually at will.

Rubio rallied in the sixth round, landing two left hooks and standing toe-to-toe with Pavlik as it came to an end. But Pavlik shook him again with a big right hand near the end of the eighth round and boxed him into a corner early in the ninth.

Rubio's team decided it had seen enough, telling referee Frank Garza to stop the carnage with their fighter sitting on his stool.

"I feel great. I put that loss behind me," Pavlik said. "I give a lot of credit to [Rubio]. He's a lot tougher than I expected."

Pavlik, who earned a guaranteed $1 million for the fight, has spoke passionately of clearing out the middleweight division. But IBF champion Arthur Abraham is already defending his title next month, and WBA champ Felix Sturm is set to fight in April.

Besides, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said the best fight isn't necessarily the biggest fight -- meaning the two Germans aren't well known enough to generate a big payday.

That could mean Pavlik's next bout is against the likes of John Duddy, which would sell well in Ohio or New York, where the popular Irishman has a massive following. Duddy defeated Matt Vanda by unanimous decision on the Cotto-Jennings undercard.


Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

Kelly looked awful. Absolutely awful. No lateral movement, no combinations.

Rubio was a stiff and never came out to fight. It was an embarrassment for Pavlik that he didn't knock him out in under 4.

A friend of mine at the fight said he ran into Brady Quinn, Ryan Tucker, and Hank Fraley down there.

I guess it's telling us something by who the OL is hanging out with.

Personally I think he knew he had a stiff in front of him and wanted to give the home crowd some extra rounds for their hard earned cash.

But he's a straight forward fighter and his combos are almost non-existent. He needs to learn to move laterally and have a combo that's more than two punches.

Duddy looked liked he could be a serious challenge to Pavlik.

Rubio was definitely a stiff.

I'm with you...

I think he came out looking for a one punch KO in the first round - when that didn't happen he knew he would dominate him no matter what so just play around and go for the glory again later.

Pavlik DOMINATED the fight. Yeah it sucks a little that he didn't get the one kill-shot, but clearly it was coming and the Rubio corner saved it from happening by quitting.

Bring on Duddy.

i watched all the fights.Kelly dominated the fight from the first bell.rubio couldnt stand and fight him.in the 5th and 6th,rubio did try to fight.I could tell,thats how rubio likes to fight.kelly was very smart very strong.he hit rubio several times very hard.you say you didnt see it,but if you were rubio,you would know that kelly did land some very solid shots.
duddy won his bout by landing the same kind of solid shots.

edit; if you watched the post fight stuff,you would know that Rubio is a class act.the guy is a great fighter,and a true professional.he won like 45 fights,he was humble and honest.he is a great athelete and a good man,.
his corner man did the right thing.................

How many of his fights have you watched?