AP News, May 20th, 2007
Now Kelly Pavlik is the middleweight calling for a fight with Jermain Taylor. Pavlik stopped Edison Miranda with a blistering combination in the seventh round Saturday night, highlighting the undercard of Taylor's successful middleweight title defense against Cory Spinks. Miranda drew Taylor's ire earlier in the week when he taunted the champion and asked for a chance to fight him _ but he was soundly beaten by Pavlik.
"Jermain Taylor is a great champion," Pavlik said. "I definitely want to fight him."
Taylor seemed amenable to that possibility after beating Spinks in a split decision.
"If Kelly Pavlik is the best out there, for the most money, I'll do it," Taylor said.
Pavlik (31-0) had Miranda (28-2) on the ropes for much of a first round in which the two fighters combined to throw 191 punches. Miranda fought back in the second, and the crowd came to life as the two fighters went at one another with reckless abandon.
The pace slowed a bit after that until the sixth round, when Pavlik knocked Miranda down twice. Pavlik, of Youngstown, Ohio, connected on a combination against the ropes for the second knockdown. Miranda managed to finish the round, but the Colombian was backed against the ropes again in the seventh, and the fight was stopped.
"This is the way middleweights used to fight in the '80s," said Bob Arum, Pavlik's promoter.
After the fight, Lou DiBella, Taylor's promoter, said he and Arum are "already talking."
Also on the undercard, Andre Berto (18-0) of Winter Haven, Fla., stopped Martinus Clay (12-15) of Wilson, N.C., in the seventh round of their welterweight fight. Clay, hit hard throughout, turned around and headed back to his corner in the seventh, and his corner threw in the towel.
Middleweight Ronald Hearns of Detroit, son of famed fighter Thomas Hearns, improved to 14-0 with an action-packed win over Dennis Sharpe (17-5) of Bayonne, N.J. Hearns won the eight-round fight in a unanimous decision.
Taylor is a Little Rock, Ark., native, and Spinks is from St. Louis. Both of those areas were represented on the undercard. Ray Smith (7-1) of Little Rock outpointed Don Mouton (2-2) of Houston in a four-round light heavyweight fight, and Joell Godfrey (7-0) of East St. Louis, Mo., outpointed DeLeon Tinsley (7-1) of Orlando, Fla., in a six-round heavyweight matchup.
Two other fighters also remained unbeaten on the undercard. Junior lightweight Ira Terry (15-0) of Brighton, Tenn., outpointed Carlos Valdez (8-8) of Phoenix in a six-round bout, and heavyweight Chazz Witherspoon (18-0) of Philadelphia stopped Joe Stofle (10-11) of St. Charles, Mo., in the third round.
Super bantamweight Jose Navarro (26-2) of Los Angeles stopped Roberto Gomez (14-18) of El Paso, Texas, in the sixth.
