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Boxing's on a roll, and Ohio fighter is helping
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Hold that diagnosis on boxing's demise.
The sport just jumped up and skipped out of the intensive care unit, and it's picking up speed. The Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather bout helped, even though HBO's two-headed dolt — Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant — tried to convince viewers that excellent defense is bad for the sport.
Extras
Wish there was some way they could have sat down with Bennie Leonard, Wilfred Benitez, Henry Armstrong and Muhammad Ali, among others.
Last Saturday, HBO produced a surprise that not only got the dolts excited; brilliant trainer-commentator Emanuel Steward — who I'd like to see test the dolts' defense — was pretty happy himself. The reason: Youngstown's Kelly Pavlik.
He was a decided underdog in a middleweight elimination fight against Colombia's semi-skilled but hard-hitting Edison Miranda.
From the very start, Pavlik took Miranda apart. He'd noticed that Miranda did not fight well going backward. So Pavlik (31-0) applied the pressure and showed a wide variety of punches and underrated punching power. He stopped Miranda at 1:54 of the seventh round.
Now there is hopeful talk of a Pavlik-
Jermain Taylor middleweight title fight.
If that happens, the 6-foot-2 Pavlik might go in as the favorite. Either way, considering you can fit Mayweather and De La Hoya as possible future opponents of these and other fighters in the talented 160-to-168-pound class, boxing is looking better and better.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2160
or gsimms@DaytonDailyNews.com.
