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Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams agreed to terms Tuesday night for an Oct. 3 fight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., Top Rank president Todd duBoef told ESPN.com.
DuBoef, Pavlik's promoter, and Dan Goossen, Williams' promoter, had been in heavy negotiations for the past few weeks, and at times it looked like the fight would not happen.
However, with time running out, HBO (which will televise the bout) growing impatient and Top Rank beginning to more seriously explore other alternatives -- Winky Wright and Peter Manfredo the most prominent -- duBoef and Goossen made a deal.
"Goossen and I have agreed to all terms and we are going to contract for the fight," duBoef said. "We look forward to a formal announcement."
Said Goossen, "I'm just happy that we've finally come to terms and gotten this resolved. Now we can move forward."
A news conference is being planned for next Tuesday in New York.
Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) will be making the third defense of his unified titles, which he won via dramatic seventh-round knockout against Jermain Taylor in September 2007. He also beat Taylor in a rematch and lost a decision to Bernard Hopkins in nontitle bouts since becoming champion.
Williams (37-1, 27 KOs), a former two-time welterweight titlist, holds an interim junior middleweight belt. But he has been willing to fight at middleweight, junior middleweight and welterweight in an effort to land major fights. He made a big statement at middleweight in April when he outclassed Wright in a lopsided decision.
This should be a very good fight. Williams throws no less than a 100 punches per round, does not have one punch stopping power but a cumulative effect with volume, and has a suspect chin. Pavlik is one dimensional, thows his one-two combo that packs a wallop and has no defense outside of his solid chin. Both have great endurance. It has all the makings of a great fight, not sure it will go the distance though and the fight can go either way. Looking forward to it.
I don't see this one as boring at all. I think that either Williams will win on points or Pavlik by KO. Williams may stay busy enough to keep Pavlik off balance and unable to really unload. If Pavlik is able to get to him and slow him down, I think Pavlik will take him out.
I am soooo not a fan of Pavlik. His three biggest wins came against big named severely flawed boxers (Taylor-twice and Miranda). I do think Williams is going up too much in weight for this fight though. But he just cant seem to land a fight at his "natural" weight.
The guy is obviously a welterweight and junior middleweight at the most but I think going up to 160 pounds will be a bit too much for him. Still hope he beats Pavlik who I just dont get people liking so much.
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Dec. 5th
