ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Fallen middleweight champion Jermain Taylor has already challenged Kelly Pavlik to meet him in a rematch following their thrilling title showdown in Atlantic City on Saturday night.
Taylor, 29, lost his WBC and WBO belts after a stunning seventh-round knockdown at the Boardwalk Hall despite having floored the 25-year-old number one contender Pavlik in the second.
Remarkably, Pavlik survived that round and regained his composure to wreck Taylor's fifth title defense, sending him to his first defeat in a 28-fight career while the new champion moved to 32-0.
Taylor was kicking himself after the fight for letting Pavlik off the hook in the second round and he said he wanted to activate the rematch clause in the fight contract that could take place up to 164 pounds, four pounds above the middleweight limit.
"I definitely want a rematch. He's a great fighter and I'll be glad to fight him again," Taylor said. "It's all about bouncing right now. I lost the fight and I have no complaints.
"I have to go back to the drawing board, watch the tape, look at everything I did wrong and just go from there. I thought I was losing the fight and I wasted a lot of energy trying to finish him off. I would like to fight him in my very first fight back."
Pavlik welcomed the chance to go at it again with Taylor although promoters for both camps Lou DiBella for Taylor and Bob Arum of Top Rank for Pavlik said they would take stock before going back to the negotiating table.
"We're going to regroup in the next week or so," DiBella said, "then Bob and I will talk but we're not going to make any (quick) decisions."
For the moment, Pavlik will celebrate his finest hour with the people of Youngstown, Ohio, of whom around 5,000 traveled from the Midwest to make up an extremely vocal part of the 10,127 crowd on the New Jersey shoreline.
Among them were former champions Ray Mancini and Harry Arroyo.
"I feel honored to be among all of the great champions from Youngstown," Pavlik said. "Now I'm up there with all the other great Ohio champions and I'm very proud to be mentioned with them."
Pavlik earned the title despite being floored by Taylor in the second round.
"My first thought was ... this is going to be a long night. I got back up," Pavlik said. "He caught me flush but I showed heart. Once I got up and shook off the cobwebs, I knew it would be a good night.
"I have been trained to take a punch like a mule and I did what I could to survive that round."
Taylor's trainer Emanuel Steward had dismissed Pavlik's chances before the fight and even though his boxer had been ahead on the scorecards of all three judges, he said Pavlik's recovery from his second round mauling had raised a red flag in his mind about Taylor's chances of winning.
"Kelly set the tempo of the fight and after the second-round knockdown he came out in the third round as if nothing had ever happened," Steward said.
"He fought an extremely focused and determined fight. I saw the look in his eyes and he was just forcing the issue and the way the fight was going it was moving in his direction."
Steward paid tribute to both fighters for the effort they showed in the ring.
"Jermain prepared well and Kelly prepared well and they gave us a tremendously great fight, one of the greatest fights I ever saw," Steward said. "To have great fights you have to have great hearts, that's what happened with Ali and Frazier, Hearns and those guys, and that's what these guys showed.
"It was a great, exciting fight and great for boxing. We needed something like this. Unfortunately we lost but it was still very good and we take our hat off to Kelly Pavlik who fought an unbelievable fight."
DiBella echoed Steward's sentiments and said the contest would help regain many fans tired of seeing over-the-hill heavyweights.
"If we have more fights like this then frankly the sport will be elevated and will be in a lot better shape.
"I'm very proud of Jermain Taylor, of the work he did in here and what he did in the ring. I'm equally proud as a boxing person and promoter of the work Kelly Pavlik put in and the support he got from Youngstown. He deserved tonight."
============================================
Good fight, I watched it last night, im not shocked taylor lost, i honestly felt Pavlik controlled the whole fight except the second round, although the judges didn't see it that way.
pz
Taylor, 29, lost his WBC and WBO belts after a stunning seventh-round knockdown at the Boardwalk Hall despite having floored the 25-year-old number one contender Pavlik in the second.
Remarkably, Pavlik survived that round and regained his composure to wreck Taylor's fifth title defense, sending him to his first defeat in a 28-fight career while the new champion moved to 32-0.
Taylor was kicking himself after the fight for letting Pavlik off the hook in the second round and he said he wanted to activate the rematch clause in the fight contract that could take place up to 164 pounds, four pounds above the middleweight limit.
"I definitely want a rematch. He's a great fighter and I'll be glad to fight him again," Taylor said. "It's all about bouncing right now. I lost the fight and I have no complaints.
"I have to go back to the drawing board, watch the tape, look at everything I did wrong and just go from there. I thought I was losing the fight and I wasted a lot of energy trying to finish him off. I would like to fight him in my very first fight back."
Pavlik welcomed the chance to go at it again with Taylor although promoters for both camps Lou DiBella for Taylor and Bob Arum of Top Rank for Pavlik said they would take stock before going back to the negotiating table.
"We're going to regroup in the next week or so," DiBella said, "then Bob and I will talk but we're not going to make any (quick) decisions."
For the moment, Pavlik will celebrate his finest hour with the people of Youngstown, Ohio, of whom around 5,000 traveled from the Midwest to make up an extremely vocal part of the 10,127 crowd on the New Jersey shoreline.
Among them were former champions Ray Mancini and Harry Arroyo.
"I feel honored to be among all of the great champions from Youngstown," Pavlik said. "Now I'm up there with all the other great Ohio champions and I'm very proud to be mentioned with them."
Pavlik earned the title despite being floored by Taylor in the second round.
"My first thought was ... this is going to be a long night. I got back up," Pavlik said. "He caught me flush but I showed heart. Once I got up and shook off the cobwebs, I knew it would be a good night.
"I have been trained to take a punch like a mule and I did what I could to survive that round."
Taylor's trainer Emanuel Steward had dismissed Pavlik's chances before the fight and even though his boxer had been ahead on the scorecards of all three judges, he said Pavlik's recovery from his second round mauling had raised a red flag in his mind about Taylor's chances of winning.
"Kelly set the tempo of the fight and after the second-round knockdown he came out in the third round as if nothing had ever happened," Steward said.
"He fought an extremely focused and determined fight. I saw the look in his eyes and he was just forcing the issue and the way the fight was going it was moving in his direction."
Steward paid tribute to both fighters for the effort they showed in the ring.
"Jermain prepared well and Kelly prepared well and they gave us a tremendously great fight, one of the greatest fights I ever saw," Steward said. "To have great fights you have to have great hearts, that's what happened with Ali and Frazier, Hearns and those guys, and that's what these guys showed.
"It was a great, exciting fight and great for boxing. We needed something like this. Unfortunately we lost but it was still very good and we take our hat off to Kelly Pavlik who fought an unbelievable fight."
DiBella echoed Steward's sentiments and said the contest would help regain many fans tired of seeing over-the-hill heavyweights.
"If we have more fights like this then frankly the sport will be elevated and will be in a lot better shape.
"I'm very proud of Jermain Taylor, of the work he did in here and what he did in the ring. I'm equally proud as a boxing person and promoter of the work Kelly Pavlik put in and the support he got from Youngstown. He deserved tonight."
============================================
Good fight, I watched it last night, im not shocked taylor lost, i honestly felt Pavlik controlled the whole fight except the second round, although the judges didn't see it that way.
pz
