PAVLIK-MARTINEZ HEADS EXCITING FIGHT CARD ON ABS-CBN
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 17 Apr 2010
In what is certainly one of the most exciting fight cards in the first half of 2010, WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly ?The Ghost? Pavlik (36-1, 32 LO?s) battles tough southpaw Sergio Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KO?s) in a four-fight card from the Boardwalk in Atlantic City which will be telecast over the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN on Sunday morning.
The fights will be telecast over Studio 23 at 11:30 a.m. and replayed on April 23 from 2:00 ? 6:00 p.m. with a replay on Channel 2 on April 25 at 8:30 a.m. which will also include the Dubai fight card headlined by Rey ?Boom Boom? Bautista and Milan Melindo.
In a ten round welterweight clssh undefeated Mike Jones (20-0, 16 KO?s) takes on Hector Munoz (18-2-1, 11 KO?s) for the NABA title and the vacant WBO NABO crown.
Power-punching, undefeated middleweight Matt Korobov (10-0, 8 KO?s) faces Joshua Snyder (8-4-1, 3 KO?s) in a six round bout while another undefeated fighter, light middleweight Glen Tapia (5-0, 4 KO?s) trades punches with James Winchester (10-3, 3 KO?s).
Korobov , the Russian southpaw is a two-time world amateur champion and is a disciplined fighter both in and outside the ring and is regarded as one of the brightest prospects at age 26. His fight against Snyder is part of a deliberate process to bring the Russian along until he is ready for the real bigtime.
Jones who is coming off an impressive victory over tough challenger Henry Bruseles of Puerto Rico to retain his NABA with a ten-round decision last March used a stinging jab and a big right hand against the veteran Bruseles who had won seven consecutive fights after losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr in a WBC eliminator in 2005.
Tapia who won the 145 pound title at USA Boxing?s Junior Olympic National Championships in 2006 began his pro c areer in December 2008 and started off impressively with back-to-back second round knockout wins in his first two fights.
Top Rank took an immediate interest in Tapia and he says he wants to get into the ring on Sunday and make a big impression against Winchester who went six rounds before losing to Korobov in the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto undercard at the MGM Grand last November 14..
For all the interest in the future prospects lined up in the undercard, its the present that matters and the Pavlik-Martinez main event could turn into a war.
Pavlik will be facing his toughest opponent since he was totally dominated by a then-44-year-old Bernard Hopkins and he believes he?ll get the job done with style. He said "I definitely feel like I am going to dominate this fight. If the knockout comes, I will take it. I don't like to make round predictions but I think I will be dominant."
For Martinez, he comes into the fight with Pavlik off an all-time high. He is coming off a highly disputed 12-round majority decision loss to Paul Williams in what was one of the best fights of 2009. Even though he lost, many experts (including Pavlik) felt he deserved the decision.
"I thought he won the fight, too, to be honest with you," Pavlik says. "I had him by a round or two and if he had finished strong it might have been a different decision. I thought Williams picked up later in the fight but I felt that Martinez won enough of the early rounds to take the fight."
Martinez's movement gave Williams fits in the fight, and kept him from getting his shots off. This is the same thing that Hopkins did in his fight with Pavlik. He used movement and made Pavlik look like a rookie. Pavlik doesn't think it will happen with Martinez and is going to try and exploit what he saw from the Williams fight
"I noticed that Martinez fades a little bit in the later rounds," Pavlik said. "He gets hits with fresh punches. He moves around very awkwardly in the ring. That can sometimes be good but other times it can leave him wide open or get him caught coming in. We are ready for everything he has got."
Pavlik feels confident that he is going to get the job done on Saturday night and look good doing it.
"I definitely feel like I am going to dominate this fight. If the knockout comes, I will take it. I don't like to make round predictions but I think I will be dominant."
Martinez, on the other hand, is high in confidence after a hugely controversial 12-round majority decision loss to Paul Williams in a fight that many felt he should have won and the second straight time he had been robbed.
Martinez should have had a knockout win over Kermit Cintron but some poor officiating did not let it happen and Martinez is hoping his luck will change this time around. Martinez indicated his preparation for the Pavlik showdown ?has been excellent; I feel it's been the best training camp of my career and it'll show on April 17.With the preparation I've had I don't think Pavlik will be able to keep up. I feel great."
Martinez is a southpaw who is very difficult to hit because although he has a tendency to drop his hands low he is always moving and is great at making his opponents throw and miss.
Martinez recognizes that Pavlik has power but points out "This is a fight that will be two different styles. He is probably more worried about my speed than my power. He has powerful hands and he is intelligent. But I feel have more of the ring intelligence than he does which will make the difference."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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