Pavlik fight | Six hours away

Just before 6 p.m. on Saturday night, Youngstown’s Harry Arroyo, the former IBF lightweight champion, was walking outside Caesars on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, getting ready for tonight’s WBC middleweight title fight between Jermain Taylor and Kelly Pavlik.

“I’m really nervous,” he said. “Taylor has all the skills.”

Still, Arroyo was definitely in Pavlik’s corner.

“I’ve known Kelly since he was 12,” Arroyo said. “This is great to see.”

Team Pavlik will leave Bally’s Casino and make the five-minute walk to Boardwalk Hall at 8 p.m. tonight. Although tonight’s undercard begins around 7 p.m., Pavlik will not be fighting until 11 p.m. at the earliest.

Boardwalk Hall, which is across the street from the Atlantic Ocean, holds about 12,000 people. It looks like a smaller version of Gund Arena (excuse me, Quicken Loans Arena) on the inside. The main event is supposed to be sold out and it’s expected to be very loud and very pro-Pavlik.

We Vindicator scribes (me, Joe Scalzo, and news reporter John Goodwin) are seated near ringside, three rows back from the ring. We’re right behind the Sky Sports broadcasting team. Sky Sports, which is based in England, is the source for American sports coverage when you’re in Europe. (They also have European sports coverage, obviously.) (Particularly soccer.) (Please don’t hold that against them, though.)

I actually watched one of the Cavs playoff games on Sky Sports two years ago when I was visiting my sister, who lived in Amsterdam at the time. It was on tape delay around 3 a.m. (I watched it the next morning) and they would periodically (usually between quarters) cut away to this awful studio show where five British guys would break down what was happening and say things like, “LeBron James has a jolly good jump shot tonight.”

What does this have to do with tonight’s fight? Absolutely nothing.

Once the fight begins, we’ll have round-by-round coverage on Vindy.com along with witty observations leading up to the fight.

OK, maybe just round-by-round coverage. Regardless, check back often for updates.