كيلي بافليك

Pavlik defeated Edison Miranda on May 19, 2007, with a technical knock out in the seventh round. The fight was a WBC Middleweight Title Eliminator bout. This fight established him as the #1 middleweight contender. During the sixth round, Pavlik knocked Miranda down to the canvas twice. After the first knock down, Miranda spat out his mouthpiece, causing the referee, Steve Smoger, to deduct a point. As the sixth round ended, Miranda seemed unable to continue, but came out nonetheless. In the seventh round, Pavlik trapped Miranda in a corner with a barrage of vicious shots, forcing Smoger to stop the fight. Pavlik thus earned a chance for the middleweight title against Jermain Taylor, who had defeated Pavlik during their amateur careers in a bout that was part of the 2000 Olympic Team-USA Box-offs.

In Atlantic City, New Jersey, in front of a pro-Pavlik crowd (approximately 6,231 Youngstown natives made the trip), Pavlik defeated Jermain Taylor on September 29, 2007.^[4] In the pre-fight build-up, Taylor's trainer, Emmanuel Steward, called Pavlik "overrated" and promised a knockout win for his boxer.^[5] It nearly happened, as Pavlik was knocked down in the second round and tossed about the ring for much of that round. However, using his ability to trap opponents in the corner, Pavlik slowly turned the tide on Taylor. By the sixth round, many at the ringside, such as the HBO commentator Larry Merchant, saw the fight as even. HBO's unofficial scorer, Harold Lederman, even had Pavlik leading the fight at the halfway point. Despite this, he was trailing on all three official scorecards. In the seventh round, Pavlik stunned his opponent with a clean left hook to the chin and backed him against the ropes knocking Taylor out with a barrage of punches. With the victory, Pavlik became the new WBC, WBO, The Ring and lineal middleweight champion.^[6][7] After the fight with Taylor, Pavlik and his father, Mike Pavlik Sr., accidentally left their paychecks in their hotel room.^[8] He was named The Boxing Times Fighter of the Year in 2007.^[9]

This fight was named Fight of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

After the defeat, Taylor activated his clause for a non-title rematch, which was held on February 16 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada, with both fighters weighing-in at super middleweight.^[10] Pavlik won the fight with a unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112 and 115–113), handing Taylor his second defeat.^[11]

Pavlik made his first title defense of the Middleweight Championship against the WBO #1 mandatory challengerGary Lockett on June 7, 2008, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Pavlik defeated Lockett with a third round technical knock out after Enzo Calzaghe, Lockett's trainer, threw in the towel when Lockett was down for the third time.

في نزالٍ غير مُصنّف ضمن فئة الوزن الخفيف الثقيل، بُثّ عبر خدمة الدفع مقابل المشاهدة على قناة HBO في 18 أكتوبر 2008، فاز برنارد هوبكنز، البالغ من العمر 43 عامًا (49 فوزًا، 5 هزائم، وتعادل واحد، منها 32 بالضربة القاضية)، بقرارٍ إجماعي على بافليك. تقاتل هوبكنز وبافليك بوزن 170 رطلاً (أقل بخمسة أرطال من الحد الأقصى لوزن خفيف الثقيل ) في نزالٍ من اثنتي عشرة جولة. سيطر هوبكنز على مجريات النزال بفضل لكماته المتعددة، ودفاعه الجيد، وحركته الرشيقة. اشتبك الملاكمان بعد انتهاء الجولة، واحتاج مدرباهما إلى الفصل بينهما. 

في 21 فبراير 2009، وفي أول نزال له بعد هزيمته أمام هوبكنز، هزم بافليك ماركو أنطونيو روبيو (المصنف الأول في المجلس العالمي للملاكمة) في مسقط رأسه يونغستاون، أوهايو، في مركز شيفي، بضربة قاضية فنية في الجولة التاسعة. سيطر بافليك على النزال، مما أجبر مدربي روبيو على الاستسلام قبل بداية الجولة العاشرة. ^{[ 12 ]}

خاض بافليك نزالاً ضد ميغيل إسبينو، أحد خريجي برنامج "ذا كونتندر"، في 19 ديسمبر 2009، في مركز بيغلي في حرم جامعة يونغستاون ستيت ، وفاز بالضربة القاضية الفنية في الجولة الخامسة. ^{[ 13 ]}

بعد فوزه على إسبينو، كان من المقرر أن يواجه بافليك بول ويليامز . إلا أنه بسبب إصابته بعدوى بكتيرية خطيرة ورد فعل تحسسي تجاه بعض المضادات الحيوية كاد أن يودي بحياته، ^{[ 14 ]} اضطر بافليك للانسحاب من النزال. وفي النهاية، تمكن من خوض نزال آخر ضد بطل وزن المتوسط ​​الخفيف سيرجيو مارتينيز .

في 17 أبريل 2010، حاول بافليك الدفاع عن لقبه في الوزن المتوسط ​​للمرة الرابعة ضد سيرجيو مارتينيز في أتلانتيك سيتي. وكانت المباراة على ألقاب بافليك في المجلس العالمي للملاكمة (WBC) ومنظمة الملاكمة العالمية (WBO) ومجلة ذا رينغ للوزن المتوسط. وخسر بافليك أمام مارتينيز بقرار إجماعي من الحكام بعد 12 جولة.

سيطر مارتينيز على الجولات الأولى بحركات سريعة ومتلاحقة، متجنباً الاشتباك المباشر مع بافليك. ونجح مارتينيز في جرح حاجب بافليك الأيسر في الجولة الأولى. ثم بدأ بافليك في استعادة توازنه في الجولات المتوسطة، حيث صدّ لكمات مارتينيز بفعالية أكبر. أمضى بافليك معظم وقته في محاولة توجيه لكمة يمنى قوية إلى رأس مارتينيز، مما ساعده على إسقاطه أرضاً في الجولة السابعة. في الجولات الأخيرة، عاد مارتينيز بقوة وبدأ في زيادة جروح بافليك، مما أدى إلى نزيف حاد في وجهه. وفي مقابلة ما بعد المباراة، صرّح بافليك بأنه لم يستطع الرؤية بسبب الدماء.

Pavlik was set to move up the super middleweight division and fight Brian Vera, as the co-main event to Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito on November 13, 2010. However, roughly two weeks before the fight, Pavlik suffered a rib injury and had to pull out of the fight.^[15] He checked himself into the Betty Ford Center for alcohol rehabilitation.

Pavlik then fought Alfonso López III in the main card of Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley. He won with a majority decision (95-95, 98–92, 99–91).

After taking nearly a year off from boxing, Pavlik defeated Aaron Jaco in a largely unpublicized fight in San Antonio, Texas. Three months later, on June 8, 2012, Pavlik made his return to the national spotlight, defeating Scott Sigmon on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights. Sigmon had attacked Pavlik on Twitter, leading Pavlik to respond, "I'm gonna hurt this kid". Despite never knocking Sigmon down, Pavlik attacked the face of Sigmon, especially in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds. Badly bloodied, Sigmon conceded after the seventh round. On July 7, 2012, Pavlik fought the fairly-highly touted, up-and-coming prospect: Will Rosinsky. He defeated Rosinsky with a unanimous decision, to earn the fortieth win of his professional boxing career.

Pavlik was scheduled to fight on HBO the linealsuper middleweight, as well as WBA and WBC, champion Andre Ward for his title on January 26, 2013 at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. The fight was initially rescheduled for February 23, 2013 after Andre Ward suffered a shoulder injury in a sparring session leading up to the fight.^[16] However, the shoulder injury was more severe than originally thought and the fight was ultimately cancelled.^[17]

January 19, 2013 Kelly Pavlik announced his retirement from boxing.^[18] He no longer had the heart for the sport and had also been suffering from seizures, which contributed to his decision.^[19]

• WBC middleweight champion (160 lbs)
• WBO middleweight champion (160 lbs)

• The Ring middleweight champion (160 lbs)

• NABF middleweight champion (160 lbs)

• WBO Super Champion