Kelly Pavlik vs. Paul Williams

According to the Top Rank head Bob Arum, a deal has been reached A press conference is set for Tuesday in East Rutherford, N.J., to officially announce the Dec. 5 middleweight title fight between Youngstown’s WBC/WBO welterweight champ Kelly Pavlik vs. Paul Williams. The title bout will take place in Atlantic City, N.J., and will be televised by HBO. The match was originally scheduled for Oct. 18, but it was postponed because of a nagging staph infection to Pavlik’s left hand. Pavlik won his 160-pound titles exactly two years ago, Sept. 29, 2007, when he stopped champion Jermain Taylor in the seventh round. The current WBC/WBO champ Kelly Pavlik who has an impressive records of (35-1, 31 KOs), while the former welterweight champ Paul Williams (37-1, 27 KOs). If the deal gets done, Williams who is listed as 6’1 but most say 6’2, slender, high volume puncher, with a physique not unlike that of Pavlik, would move up in weight by 13 pounds to meet Pavlik in 160. I don’t know if they already finished the issue of money matters because Williams was initially, according to Arum, demanding as much as $ 2.5 million for the fight. Either he came down quite a bit or HBO offered more money to make it happen. Pavlik’s Manager Cameron Dunkin that HBO had a lot of interest in a Pavlik vs. Williams fight. He won a non-title rematch against Taylor, but suffered his lone professional loss when he was decision by Bernard Hopkins in an over-the-weight bout in Oct. 2008. He stopped Marco Antonio Rubio in Youngstown to defend his titles in February. I think it’s a hard style and a tough fight, but it’s a good fight. Paul Williams is a tough fighter. He’s not a guy moving up. I like the fight, fans like the fight. HBO likes the fight.