RIP Steve Smoger, when he let Pavlik carry on in the second round of this it was a brilliant judgement call, many referees would have stopped the fight.
That dude would let ya die in there lol. He did Miranda no favors, ill tell ya that. And idk I think most would have let that fight continue during the second round. Although i do agree he was a hell of an official. I loved what he said to Juddah and Danny Garcia when the last bell sounded
Shoutout to The Ghost wherever he is right now. I was a huge Kelly Pavlik fan. He looked like he was gonna get blown away in Round Two and Taylor had him doing the stanky leg...and he stayed up. Once that ended, my godfather said, "that white boy is gonna get him". I thought so too and I was so geeked when he caught Taylor in the corner and slumped him. Dude was all heart, how can you not root for someone like that?
Hes had some trouble with Alcohol and gotten in trouble for some dumb shit, but i think hes doing alright these days. I live about halfway between Cleveland and Youngstown and hes my all time favorite fighter. I felt like Lettermen was the only person from HBO that was watching the same fight. Idk how the officials didnt have Kelly winning.
I agree. Taylor lit him up like a Christmas tree in that 2nd round. Pavlic survived somehow. Taylor had that hand speed advantage, but neither guy had much footwork. Pavlic kept the pressure stalking him. Sticking that heavy jab looking to back it up with that straight right hand. 7th round…Pavlic stuck 3 heavy jabs, then caught him with that first right hand middle of ring. Taylor was rocked. Pavlic slammed him with another 1-2 right down the pipe, and Taylor was done. Pavlic wasn’t fancy, but was tough and could punch. Stalking SOB that Pavlic! Much respect.
I remember hosting a party for this fight and getting a bit drunked up. Goddamn that was fun Hell of a fight! The mid 2000's was awesome for boxing at 140-175 lbs Jermaine and Kelly were both absolute beasts. Jermaine was also a total class act in defeat.
This gives me goosebumps to watch, and remember. This was a HUGE bout back in 07. Taylor was so motivated to shut the critics up, and Kelly was HUNGRY!
Mr knuckles this happened in the prime of my life. I'll never forget watching it. It was 4am UK time I was 18 fit healthy and had a great life. I was rooting for Taylor and went crazy in round 2 jumping up and down when he scored the knockdown. Then around the sixth I was suddenly realizing Pavliks' a beast. Then after the incredible finish I was so amped up I took my beloved labrador Jimmy for an 'early' run at sunrise. Those were the days. Now I'm severely brain damaged, half the time in a wheel chair, vision going down, and loss of mobility nearly inexorable. This fight will always remind me of my happy years
@@patriceaqa288 I was 30, fit, healthy, had a great life, man I feel old 😂. I miss this era, so much talant about, I wish Kelly had stayed around a bit longer, strange how he suddenly went off form.
@@martytdd1606 I agree, and understand. I think it resonates so much with me because now I'm permanently disabled, and brain damaged, never to walk or function properly again. When this fight happened I was boxing myself and had kind of only just started 'truly' discovering the sport. When I was a depressed school kid and someone said this is where you'll be in 3-4 years I'd never have believed them. When 22/23 if someone had said this is where you'll be in 9 years I'd have said impossible. I never thought that brain injury would get so outrageously bad over time, that my whole body would deteriorate to the point of deformity and permanent infirmity. Watching this live was honestly one of the greatest moments of my life, given how amazing life was back then. I'd wipe out a planet to experience one night/day like that again
@@patriceaqa288 ok you seem to want to share-I get it. How did you get your brain damage? Why did it deteriorate the rest of your body so quickly? You know, even though you’re not physically fit anymore, you can still pursue a passion that involves a more sedentary lifestyle. I just don’t know the extent of your damage and if it affects your reading or writing. If you’re able to comment, I’m sure you can write other things like reviews of fights for a publication perhaps? Your life is still worth living. 👌🏻👌🏻👍🏻
Anyone else gets up off their seat and starts shadow boxing when they hear the HBO Boxing telecast intro song?!!!??? What great memories when i see this!
Thanks so much for uploading the HBO telecast. HBO boxing storytelling and commentary was absolutely first-class. Taylor and Pavlik BOTH got touching, well-produced biographical features before the fight. And they did stuff like that many, many times. It really humanized the fighters. I like both these guys. They both bring a ton to the table. What a fight! That crowd was HOT. 32:36 - That row just above the top rope is Jermaine's family. You can see his wife and three sisters going wild.
It's funny because Jermaine Taylor defeated Bernard Hopkins twice. Kelly Pavlik defeated Jermaine Taylor twice. Bernard Hopkins comes along and defeats Kelly Pavlik. Only in Boxing.
@@MrRoughdogdavid Pavlik was genuinly surprised he won. Taylor was inches to win, but was stupid and reckless enough to lose. The only thing that worked for Pavlik - muscle memory, as one of the commenters said. He was still half-conscious after the knockdown, and still got the guy. It was very satisfying to watch. Youngstown, baby!
well, he wasn't (I cant remember hearing of him recently) among the best boxers for sure, but he was and definitely is one of the most interesting to watch (and root for) fighers. Youngstown, baby!
Stan Lee my personal favorite fight of 'my' era. I think at 31.23 Taylor realized Pavlik was inexorably going to overpower him. The look on his face after those two inside shots to the face showed he's just not 'used' to fighting big strong middleweights. Smoger wasn't an ideal referee for Taylor here. He then went for the kill and I think slightly 'gave up.' When Pavlik survived it. Like, 'I can't go 12 with this guy and I can't knock him out either?'
Interesting fact, how do you think it would have turned out if they fought back in 2007 in pavliks prime? 2 hard hitting fighters, would have been a heck of a fight for sure
Smoger was terrible. He let pavlik get killed get back up get hurt again and continue, but he didn't even give Taylor a count lol. HBO had too much money riding on Pavlik and was wasting money on Manny being in the corner.
Are you kidding me? Do u ACTUALLY think JT could have got up from that knockdown? If he were smart, he would taken a knee. Kelly was bouncing his head around like a ping pong ball. He was slouched over, completely unresponsive. He was probably out 4-5 punches beforehand. It was purely the fact that JT had been boxing since he was young that kept him standing. Steve Smoger was notorious for letting fighters fight. If a guy's arms are stiff and limp like that, you can't let them continue to fight. I mean look what happened to JT after he retired; Do u think Smoger letting him take a count, and possibly get up was a good idea? Come on man.
The right hand @ 1 minute of the 7th actually started the KO sequence…The announcers never mentioned it , the big right on the robes came after Taylor was already on queer st
Yep. After eating several very stiff power jabs, that first one-two in the middle of the ring right on the jaw at 52:58 had Jermaine hurt. The second one-two is what they show on the replay and then Kelly finished him off. They actually show it on the slow-mo replay at 54:33. Taylor was absolute rocked by that. His neck completely buckled.
I hosted a fight night party for this one. Still one of the best title fights in the past 25 years! BTW, check out Pavlik rockin the B Dubs hat years before they were really known!
I know, Showtime was the B-Level boxing network and today it would be the best by 10x, ESPN, DAZN, all so horrible. I go back to the early 80s, when Barry Tompkins was there with Larry & Sugar Ray Leonard. Perfect broadcasts and overall production quality
One of my all time favorite fights involving my favorite fighter: Kelly Pavlik. By the end of the second round Kelly had his legs back and even when hurt he was going toward Taylor. After the 3rd and 4th round i felt like the fight was in the bag, thank god he finished Jermain because he very well could have been robbed on the scorecards. And now that ive become a bigger fan of the sport and have watched more and more fights I see how big these two were for 160
Evidence that being a weight bully can make you resilient. Pavlik was embarrassed by an old Bhop because he couldn't outweigh him on fight day by 15 lbs.
well, most people in the world didn't get even closer to what they did and had, so we can't call them unlucky, unless they collect garbage in the streets. I mean any sportsman of that caliber surely can find at least decent occupation to share his skills.
I think Jermaine's biggest mistake was ditching his original trainer. He was such a good instinctive fighter, had his style he was comfortable with. Too much to try to change at that point in his career.
I remember before this fight Taylor said he needed to go back to his old amateur style. What??? anytime a fighter says he needs to go back to something he has not been for almost 10 years he is in trouble.
That round 3 pushback in the corner by Kelly broke Jermaine mentally. Taylor gave him his best shot in the second and couldn’t believe this kid showed no fear coming back at him.
