Mancini: Pavlik in 6 rounds (or less)

By Joe Scalzo

The former lightweight champion thinks the bout will be exciting, and short.

YOUNGSTOWN — Recently, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini recently sat down to watch a tape with four or five of Gary Lockett’s fights.

He watched two rounds, shut it off and said, “This guy is perfect for Kelly.”

Kelly Pavlik will make his first middleweight title defense against Lockett Saturday in Atlantic City. Both are blue-collar brawlers with knockout power, which is why Mancini thinks it will be a fun fight.

He just doesn’t think it will be a long one.

“No more than six rounds,” said Mancini, the former lightweight champion who grew up on the South Side. “It’ll be an exciting six rounds, though.”

Pavlik is a 10-1 favorite, which is a bit of a role reversal for him. He was the underdog against Edison Miranda last May and against Jermain Taylor in September and still had more than a few doubters entering February’s non-title rematch with Taylor.

This time he’s expected to win easily, which brings its own burdens.

“It’s been a really hard camp because of peoples’ mouths and because it’s my first title defense,” said Pavlik, who hasn’t really joined in on the inter-continental trash talking over the past few weeks. “I just want to go in and impress and take care of business.”

Although he’s already fought once since winning the WBO and WBC belts in September, and although he’s already got the boxing world buzzing over a possible super middleweight title bout with Joe Calzaghe later this year, there’s no question this fight means a lot to Pavlik.

“People keep saying Lockett hasn’t beaten nobody, but it’s kind of wrong to go by that,” Pavlik said. “From the films I watched, he wasn’t tested much but you can still see he punches hard and the hand speed is there.

“He’s got power. He’s not overly powerful, but he’s still got enough pop that anything can happen.”

Lockett (30-1, 21 KOs) has compared himself to underdogs like Pavlik, Taylor (who upset Bernard Hopkins to win the middleweight title in 2005) and Lloyd Honeyghan, who beat Donald Curry 20 years ago for the welterweight title in Atlantic City.

“I’m under no illusions,” Lockett told reporters last week. “The odds are greatly stacked against me, but out of that I draw some comfort knowing that I’m going to give this guy the fight of his life.

“I’m confident in my ability and know I’m going to be coming home the new world champion. Pavlik holds a big punch and everyone knows I can certainly bang, so let’s see what happens when we start landing.”

Pavlik has 29 knockouts in 33 fights, but he’s said repeatedly he trains for 12 rounds and never enters a bout expecting a knockout. Everyone in Pavlik’s camp rememberss what it was like to be in Lockett’s position — and how long it took to win the belt.

“Kelly has got the target on his back and I think Lockett is going to come out and leave nothing behind,” said Mike Pavlik Sr., Kelly’s father and co-manager. “Lockett has nothing to lose and everything in the world to gain.

“The guy is going to fight very hard, like he’s defending his homeland.”

But will he fight well enough to win? Mancini, like most observers, doesn’t think so.

At 5-foot-10, Lockett gives up 41‚Ñ2 inches to Pavlik, meaning he’ll need to stay close to have a chance, Mancini said.

“But he likes to stay outside and sometimes when he hits a guy, he’ll step back and admire his work,” said Mancini. “That’s when Kelly can fire back.

“He’s at the perfect range for Kelly to whack him.”

scalzo@vindy.com