Sports City Line

February 21st (Saturday), 2009 At The Chevrolet Center, Youngstown, OH

(PPV) Kelly Pavlik (34-1) vs. Marco Antonio Rubio (43-4-1)

(For The Ring Magazine World Middleweight Championship)
(WBC and WBO Middleweight belts)

World middleweight boxing champion Kelly Pavlik (34-1, 30 knockouts) is defending his title against Mexico’s Marco Antonio Rubio at Youngstown’s 7,000-seat Chevrolet Centre.

Pavlik will enter the ring four months removed from his lopsided non-title loss at 170 pounds to Bernard Hopkins, a masterful performance in boxing and defense by the 43-year-old Hopkins that diminished Pavlik’s star in the eyes of many fight fans.

Pavlik, however, said being from Youngstown has ingrained in him to “keep hope and work through it. You always struggle through things living in northeast Ohio, you gotta put it behind you. That’s the most important thing I’ve learned from [the Hopkins loss].”

The Pavlik-Rubio fight will be televised on pay-per-view as a doubleheader featuring former weltertweight champ Miguel Cotto’s fight against Michael Jennings — Cotto’s first bout since his July title loss to the now-disgraced Antonio Margarito.

At Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
Miguel Cotto (32-1) vs. Michael Jennings (34-1)
(The Ring Magazine #2 Welterweight vs. Unranked)
(WBO Welterweight belt)

Michael Jennings has warned American boxing fans to be prepared for a surprise when he takes on Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

Their fight for the vacant WBO welterweight title has been written off as a mere launchpad for Puerto Rico’s former two-time champion Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs) to regain a belt after losing the WBA version in an epic 11th-round stoppage by Antonio Margarito last summer.

Little-known Englishman Jennings (34-1, 16 KOs) has never fought outside the United Kingdom, or at this level, before while Cotto, three years his junior at 28, will be entering his 14th straight world title bout.

See our Boxing page for more…