Kelly Pavlik vs Miguel Espino: Round by Round Coverage

by A.F. on Dec 19, 2009 9:52 PM EST in Live Fight Blogs Comment 6 comments

The Boxing Bulletin will be providing round by round updates of tonight's Top Rank PPV main-event between Kelly Pavlik and Miguel Espino.

We're eating the $40 price tag on this one... so you won't have to. The opening bout on the Youngstown's portion of the card between Martirosyan and Lee is in the books, and the show will be heading to Mexico for the next two fights shortly. We will update the results of those fights, but round by round coverage will only be for the main-event.

10:00 PM EST Update... Regarding what time the main-event will start. Not sure yet, as the show still hasn't moved over to Mexico. Martirosyan beat Lee via a 3rd round stoppage. He dropped Lee with a big counter right hand, and from that point on it was target practice, and the fight was immediately stopped when Lee hit the canvas again. I'll be posting the occasional update of the two fights from Mexico.

10:10... Soto and Chavez is underway.

10:25... Soto/Chavez is now through 4. Chavez was dropped early in round 1, and clearly got the worst of it in round 4, but is still hanging real tough. He's brought steady pressure, and has had Soto pushed against the ropes for much of the fight.

10:32... Chavez has lost his cool. After intentionally shoving Soto through the ropes late in the 5th, he just smacked Soto with a hard low blow early in round 6. Soto is bent over on the canvas and not looking good.

10:34... Soto needed a few minutes to recover, and Chavez brought some very intense pressure after the re-start. Soto though countered nicely, and looks to be okay after the low blow.

10:43... Soto/Chavez is through 8. Soto is countering well, and he's winning clearly, but Chavez keeps coming. It's been a very game effort Chavez.

10:47... Soto landed a right hand after the bell... and I think he let it go *just* after the bell and knew it. That's the second time he's landed a little late. The 10th and final round coming up.

10:55... Soto by UD, all 3 judges had it 100-87. Despite the very wide scores, it wasn't the most impressive performance from Soto as he got tagged a lot, looked a little tired at times and could never really hurt Chavez or dissuade him from coming forward. Not sure how well he'll do against the top guys at 135. Looking forward to finding out though.

11:03... Alejandro Valdez and Nehomar Cermeno are in the ring and the introductions are almost finished. This one should be getting underway shortly.

11:07... Valdez suffered a bad cut in the 1st round. Cermeno was coming inside, and connected heavily with his head.

11:11... Cermeno went after Valdez very aggressively in the 2nd, and dropped him twice although both kind of looked like flash knockdowns. In fact on the replay, the 2nd knockdown looked a little suspect as it appeared that Valdez's foot may have got tangled with Cermeno's, which caused him to slip to a knee.

11:19... This is developing into a real war. Some heavy shots traded through much of the 4th, with both men landing a number of clean shots. There was also another clash of heads in the 4th... and while we've got the southpaw/conventional match-up, which is often awkward, Cermeno is a little reckless when he jumps in.

11:29... We just had a bit of a delay to start the 7th as the Cermeno corner didn't have any scissors to trim the tape on his glove. Raul Marquez has Cermeno winning comfortably, but there have been a few close rounds, and it might be a little closer on the cards than Marquez has it. Valdez has been pressing the action, with Cermeno circling and picking his spots to jump in.

11:40... This looked like it had the potential to be exciting earlier, but it hasn't turned out that way. Cermeno is constantly moving on the outside, and Valdez has rarely been able to cut the ring off. We're through 9.

11:44... "All Cermeno, he's in control." - Raul Marquez. Valdez did have a good moment or two at the end of the round, but other than that, it was a clear Cermeno round. Round 11 coming up.

11:50... This one's over.. Cermeno stung Valdez hard with a 1-2 at the mid-way mark of the round and really poured it on after that. Valdez was floored with about 20 seconds left in the round, and the fight was called when he got up on unsteady legs.

11:53... The finishing shot was a hard right hand, and the time was 2:40 of round 11. There was an odd moment earlier in the 11th, when Cermeno was docked a point for using his right knee on the inside. The fighters were in a clinch, and he raised his right knee into Valdez's leg. That was a bizarre move. All in all, this was a none too clean performance from the winner.

11:57... The show is back in Youngstown, and the fighters are in the ring. The man in charge for the main-event will be Steve Smoger.

11:59... This one's ready to go...

Round	Kelly Pavlik vs Miguel Espino Round by Round Updates
1	Action in the middle of the ring to start with Espino coming right at Pavlik. Pavlik banging him with 1-2s in response. Pavlik mixing in some lefts to the body. Pavlik just landed a heavy left to the body about a minute in. He's also digging hard with the left uppercut. Espino's not backing off, but he's getting tagged hard. Pavlik firing heavy shots here, especially to the body. He just dug a hard right hand downstairs. Espino bangs away in response, but Pavlik is landing some heavy shots. Pavlik with a 1-2, and another hard body shot. Espino fires back with a combo, but nowhere close to the same power on his shots. The first round comes to a close with both men still wanting to fight, and Smoger has to separate them as Pavlik seems incensed by something Espino did at the end of the round.
2	MIguel Espino lost a point at the end of the 1st round for hitting after the bell. Espino goes right after Pavlik early in the 2nd, and is warned for straying low with a flurry downstairs. Espino was told after the 1st by his trainer John Bray to keep letting his hands go, and he's doing just that early in the 2nd. Pavlik though responds with some heavy shots. Pavlik mixing his shots up on the inside. Using the 1-2, the hook, uppercut and going to the body. He's got a willing partner for brawling it up tonight. Al Bernstein just commented that Pavlik hasn't really used his jab much tonight. With Espino right there in front of him willing to trade bombs, it's not a surprise that Kelly hasn't used the stick much. It's toe to toe stuff on the inside here. "This is Corrales/Castillo like" - Bernstein. Sort of in terms of style, but Pavlik is clearly landing the more damaging shots.
3	Espino comes right out banging away. He just landed a decent right hang. Kelly drills him to the body in response. Bernstein points out that Pavlik doesn't need to be fighting like this, because he could control the fight from the outside. He seems to be enjoying the in the trenches battle though. If Espino was a bigger hitter, that might not be the case. Pavlik is getting through with most of the big shots he's throwing. Espino has the gloves up, but Pavlik is splitting the guard when he fires the right, and digging under the guard with body shots. Espino has just been warned again for a low blow. Espino keeps plugging away. He's flurrying to the body, and banging away upstairs, and in return, he's getting blasted... but he doesn't back up. "Another great round." - Bernstein
4	Action heats up again to start the 4th, with both fighters banging away in close. It's toe to toe- shoulder to shoulder stuff. Pavlik just landed a hard right upper-cut about a minute in, and down goes Espino! He barely beats the count... and goes right after Pavlik. Pavlik digs a hook to the body, and Espino fires back with a flurry. Pavlik just landed a heavy combination. Looked like another upper-cut in there, and down goes Espino. He's up at the count of 8 or 9. He again goes right after Pavlik and starts throwing. Pavlik bangs away with the 1-2. Pavlik with a hook. Pavlik with an uppercut. Espino fires back though! Amazing stuff from Espino. He just got drilled again, but he fires back, although as the round ended, he looked to be a little unsteady.
5	Espino comes out pressing forward. Incredibly gutsy effort from the challenger. Pavlik nails him with a 1-2. Another 1-2, and Espino fires back with a right hand. Pavlik with another hard right hand. Pavlik is landing heavy stuff, and Espino just keeps putting his head down and firing back. Pavlik with a hard 1-2 that backed Espino up for a second, and Espino came back with a flurry. He's down again! Pavlik with another big uppercut. Espino is up, and Smoger lets it go on, although John Bray is up on the apron calling for it to be stopped. This one's over and Smoger steps in.

Kelly Pavlik, the winner by TKO. The official time was 1:44 of round 5.

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Comments

Thanks for the coverage! I nearly bought the ppv but got home late from a Christmas party and decided against it.

by BloodMeridian on Dec 19, 2009 10:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

You’re welcome. If I wasn’t covering the show for the blog, there’s no way I’d have bought it.

by A.F. on Dec 19, 2009 10:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

yeah 40 bucks is too much. I thought that about Lopez-Mtagwa before I got it though and it was one of my favorite fights of the year! you never know, maybe Espino will become a monster in there ha ha

by BloodMeridian on Dec 19, 2009 10:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

True...

You never know. Lopez-Mtagwa was awesome. So far Chavez/Soto has been a lot of fun. I wasn’t thrilled about the fight being made, as I didn’t think Chavez had enough left to make it competitive, but he’s giving a real spirited effort.

by A.F. on Dec 19, 2009 10:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks again for the coverage, sounds like it was a decent fight while it lasted…happy to hear that Espino gave it his all! Hopefully Pavlik-Williams can become possible again now.

by BloodMeridian on Dec 20, 2009 12:24 AM EST reply actions 0 recs