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PHOTO GALLERY - Jermain Taylor vs. Kelly Pavlik Fight Gallery

posted by mightygloves.com on October 1, 2007, in Events

Story By Kathleen Holland
Images By Chris McGee
Click Image To Launch Gallery

Video, instant replay and stills in chronological order, what a great tool available, not only to fighters, but officials and media. It gives one the opportunity to dissect a boxer’s performance and improve their boxing ability and stamina, if you will.

If we take a closer look at the Taylor vs Pavlik fight, you will see a multitude of positives and negatives that contributed to the fight and its’ outcome.

Both fighters came to go home with the middleweight championship of the world and remain undefeated or as Michael Buffer put it so eloquently “one of the 0’s must go” and that it did.

There are 79 still shots in our main event photo gallery. Each image has a major importance to the outcome of the fight. Let’s look at them in order.

You will see Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor entering the ring. Pretty normal stuff, then the face off and the focus you can see in each.

The first bell sounds and here they come, both to fight and claim the victory. Both boxers come out with a vengeance, each connecting some pretty hard shots, but Taylor takes the first round.

Early on in the fight, some of Taylor’s bad habits start to show through. You will notice in the gallery Taylor’s left had is down by his waist and his right is wild.

Ooops, but then in a different image, it appears Pavlik dished out a little elbow to the head, probably as accidental as the low blow by Taylor.

The intensity on both fighter’s faces shows their determination and desire to be the best middleweight today.

Here comes round two. Not a good round for Kelly, but maybe a worse round for Taylor, even though he scored a knockdown had Pavlik in trouble. The whole series seemed to start when Taylor hit Pavlik in the neck and it seemed to throw his equilibrium off. Jermain was able to get off several good shots that sent Kelly to the canvas. The problem for Jermain was he didn’t finish the job and that was the beginning of Taylor’s demise.

You might think that after a tough second round, Kelly would come out tired and weak, but you would never have known that he was down in the second by his performance in the third. There was no sign at all that he was near defeat.

You will also notice, as the fight progresses that, Pavlik’s left hand is down below his waist, as he is throwing a right cross, the same bad habit that Taylor has.

There wasn’t a dull moment in the fight. The fourth round was close and could have gone either way, but the fifth and sixth belonged to Taylor. Don’t get me wrong, Pavlik did not go away. He fought tough even though going into the seventh round he was behind on all score cards.

It’s round seven and Kelly is feeding on the predominately Pavlik crowd, something that Taylor is used to having. Kelly has focused on one of Taylor’s main weaknesses, his inability to stay off the ropes when he is backed up by his opponent. Taylor nearly lost a fight against Winky Wright because Wright kept him on the ropes for a major portion of the bout.

Pavlik would take advantage of this each time he had an opportunity, and his golden opportunity came in the seventh round when he hit Jermain with a barrage of punches that backed him into the Blue corner. From there it was just a matter of a couple of punches finished off with a right uppercut that put Taylor out on his feet and then slumping to the canvas.

Pavlik had come back from being behind on all judge’s scorecards to beat the reigning middleweight champion and claim his place in boxing’s elite.

One thing I will say, the post fight press conference was nothing but class. Both fighters gave each other the respect they had earned and deserved.

It will be interesting to see how a rematch would play out. I hope we get to witness that.

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