Pavlik beats Taylor again, stays undefeated

Posted: Sun Feb 17 12:55 AM

Las Vegas, NV (Sports Network) - Kelly Pavlik won by a unanimous decision over Jermain Taylor, and stayed undefeated, in the non-title super middleweight match at the MGM Grand.

Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs) took all three scorecards by tallies of 117-111, 115-113, 116-112 over Taylor (27-2-1).

It was a rematch of their first professional meeting, when Pavlik scored a seventh-round technical knockout on Sept. 29 in Atlantic City, N.J. In that match, Pavlik was knocked down in the second round, and came back to floor Taylor in the seventh to take the middleweight title away.

Saturday, fighting at a weight of 166, there weren't moments as dramatic as those. But Pavlik, whose last 10 matches had ended with a knockout or TKO, and who had never fought all 12 rounds in his professional career, pulled out a second win nonetheless.

Most rounds were close, with each fighter landing a fair number of punches. Toward the final rounds, Taylor's eyes started to swell, though his vision was not markedly affected. Pavlik closed well, and edged out his opposition.

In the undercard fights, Cristian Mijares (34-3-2) got a split-decision victory over Jose Navarro (26-4-0) to capture the WBC super flyweight title.

Additionally, Fernando Montiel (36-2-1) knocked out Martin Castillo (33-3) in the fourth round to capture the WBO super flyweight belt.