Youngstown fight brings celebration to the Valley

YOUNGSTOWN — World middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik hammered Marco Antonio Rubio until he quit after the ninth round of a capacity crowd title defense Saturday night at the Chevrolet Centre.

A sell-out crowd choked the Chevrolet Centre to see the Youngstown fighter defend the World Boxing Council/World Boxing Organization middleweight championship.

Pavlik was a heavy favorite over Rubio, 28SClB.

Rubio failed to answer bell for 10th round. The referee stopped the contest and pavlik won by a TKO.

Pavlik in the ninth round methodically went after Rubio, throwing effective jabs. Rubio managed to recover quickly but Pavlik got in a nice left to win.

Rubio fought back at the end of the eighth round, but only after taking some punishment from Pavlik’s right hands that sent Rubio back and into ropes. Pavlik kept up the aggression by hammering away — and the crowd liked what it was seeing.

Seventh round: Pavlik jabbed and gave combinations in the first minute — finding an opening between Rubio’s gloves and connecting, firing 1-2-3 punches in succession. Pavlik kept Rubio at bay.

They traded good punches in to the head in the sixth, but it seemed like Pavlik was taking more than giving at round’s end. Rubio was a nice dancer and is able to hit, move and counter — this would be no “gimmie” for the Youngstown fighter.

Fifth round: Pavlik’s right snapped Rubio’s head back in last 20 seconds, but Rubio had, again, good defense. Pavlik, however, was able to make several left-right connects to Rubio’s head. Rubio was a sharp and clever boxer.

At the fourth, Rubio landed two straight lefts while throwing a few lead punches and countering well. Rubio still had a good enough defense to protect himself from Pavlik’s shots.

By the third, Rubio was able to cover up a lot, but some harder punches from Pavlik couldn’t be deflected — nicking Rubio’s face and head. Pavlik was also working the body with jabs and hooks.

Pavlik also dominated the second round: He kept Rubio moving backwards, delivering several left-right combinations that connected. Pavlik had the center of ring and Rubio was on the defensive most of round.

In the first round, a right from Pavlik snapped Rubio’s head back near the end of the round. Pavlik kind of felt Rubio out first, throwing jabs that Rubio deflected for the most part. Pavlik got many more punches in as the round ended.

Meanwhile, Miguel Cotto is the new WBO welterweight champion after he stopped Michael Jennings at 2:36 of the fifth round at Madison Square Garden.Cotto dominated, dropping Jennings twice in the fourth round with merciless body shots and once in the fifth before the fight was stopped.