Pavlik-Martinez Bout Tentatively Set
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik (right) in one of his two victories over Jermain Taylor
ESPN.com has reported that middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and junior middleweight titlist Sergio Martinez will face each other on April 17 in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. Although a contract has not yet been signed, the management for both fighters is in agreement on the bout, with a press conference expected to take place in New York sometime after the Winter Olympics.
This bout will headline a new “World Championship Boxing” event on HBO, with super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute scheduled to defend his belt against Edison Miranda at the Bell Centre in Montreal before the main event.
Pavlik (36-1, 32 KOs) won both the WBC and WBO middleweight belts in September 2007 at Boardwalk Hall by knocking out Jermain Taylor in the seventh round. He later defeated Taylor again by majority decision. The Martinez fight will mark Pavlik’s fourth title defense, with his last bout ending in a fifth-round knockout of Miguel Espino on Dec. 19.