Although Taylor appears confident, I don't agree that he seems overconfident this time. It's hard to imagine him being overconfident after the brutal treatment he received the last round he faced Kelly. I take the confidence as a good thing.

Also, Taylor still has the better set of tools of the two and the greater potential, in my belief. If he shows up at his best, he will beat Pavlik by an exciting mid-fight KO, which is my prediction tonight.

Ronald has the same build as his dad.

Hearns working the jab to start, keeping Astorga moving backwards and at a comfortable distance. Hearns has a pretty nice height advantage here. Empty building to start the night, as you might expect.

Astorga has mounted no offense halfway through the round. He comes with a slow right over the top and eats an uppercut for his effort, but it doesn't land square. Hearns looking to establish the straight right after the long left jab. Nice body shot from Hearns.

That lead right lands for Hearns. HARD body shots from Hearns, those look really nice. This is my first time seeing Ronald in a live fight, and I've only seen a couple of his fights otherwise. He's never been overly impressive, but has the tools and the bloodlines. And he takes the opening round with ease.

Hearns 10-9

Home run straight right is ducked by Astorga, then he bites on a feign but Hearns doesn't follow up. Astorga with a nice lead right after the gavel sounds, but Hearns pretty much dominated this round again with boxing at a distance and sticking to the plan.

Hearns 10-9
Hearns 20-18

Only a matter of time, it seems.

Counter jab from Astorga, but Hearns keeps coming in on him. Left lands, right glancingly follows. Body shot from Hearns. Another right to the head. Hearns is now really punishing him with long, hard right hands.

30 seconds left in the round. It'll be pretty amazing if Astorga gets out of this without being knocked down. Hearns with a winging body shot that lands, and Astorga eats a nasty left moments later. Bell sounds. Astorga ate some serious leather that round.

Hearns 10-8 (no knockdown)
Hearns 30-26

This is easy pickins stuff for Ronald Hearns, as he's controlling at arm's length and finding no trouble in Astorga's game. Another simple round.

Hearns 10-9
Hearns 40-35

Not much more to say about this fight now. Well, there's something -- big straight right floors Astorga, and he's back up and will fight on.

Hearns comes right back with the same punch, but Astorga survives the few seconds left in the round. This is domination.

Hearns 10-8
Hearns 50-43

This fight did not belong on PPV, to say the least. Even as an opener. This is maybe a FNF main event. Maybe. But Hearns has looked good, fighting smart and not getting aggressive until he's seen the chance to do so safely. Not exactly stirring his dad's memory in more than name, but he's a fairly promising fighter and showing that tonight. He should be outclassing Astorga, and he is.

Hearns 10-9
Hearns 60-52

Hearns 10-9
Hearns 70-61

Astorga goes down on a body shot, it looked like, with a hard overhand right coming at him.

The referee waves it off despite that Astorga got up.

Ronald Hearns TKO-8

Mijares-Navarro is up now.

Mijares swings hard with a left hook that misses. There's a left that sneaks in from Navarro. Right-left from Navarro, with the left landing.

Good boxing in the opening round, both guys coming out with some fire. I thought Navarro landed the better stuff.

Navarro 10-9

Navarro is bleeding some from the nose, and he took a couple wicked shots this round. I got moderately distracted away from the keyboard but kept my eye on the fight.

Mijares 10-9
19-19

Navarro 10-9
Navarro 29-28

Mijares 10-9
38-38

Competitive, but not entirely interesting.

Mijares 10-9
Mijares 48-47

Good body-head combo from Navarro with about a minute left in the round. Mijares has lost the pace a little bit. This is actually developing into an interesting tactical battle, if not an exciting fight. Good stuff from Mijares toward the very end of the round, but I go back to Navarro now. It's been back-and-forth.

Navarro 10-9
57-57

Navarro 10-9
Navarro 67-66

Navarro is fighting smart, fighting hard, and fighting well. The pace has been good on both sides, but Jose is winning this fight.

Navarro 10-9
Navarro 77-75

Tough round to call. Many of them have been. Navarro's bleeding from the nose still, but fighting right through it.

Navarro 10-9
Navarro 87-84

More good stuff from Navarro, but there's a flurry from Mijares. Every time Mijares opens up and lets his fists go, Navarro answers back with one or two counter punches. I think that's been a real key to the fight. Navarro's counter-punching has carried him into what I now see as a fairly commanding lead.

Navarro 10-9
Navarro 97-93

I don't think I've given Mijares enough credit. He's fought hard and pretty well, I just think Navarro is beating him. It's actually developed into a pretty damn good fight, if nothing you'll tell your friends to track down later.

In other words, THIS has been a PPV undercard fight worth watching.

They're checking the cut AGAIN. Back to action, and Navarro comes in swinging. Mijares meets him, but Navarro wins the war. Good right from Mijares. Left from Navarro, and another one after. They fight to the bell.

Good round.

Mijares 10-9
Navarro 106-103

Mijares warned for a punch to the back of the head, it looked like. Well, not officially warned, but talked to briefly.

About a minute and a half left. Neither guy looks like he's going for broke. I don't have an HBO feed, so I have no idea what Hurrld's card is, or how Lampley and crew are calling this one. Kind of relieving, to be honest. Bob Papa pissed me off last weekend.

Ten seconds to go in this one. Mijares made a fairly nice late comeback, but I give the fight to Navarro.

Mijares 10-9
Navarro 115-113

CRISTIAN MIJARES VIA SPLIT DECISION

Geez, 120-108? What the fuck was that judge watching?

Not a decision I'm mad about. I thought Navarro did enough, particularly that nice streak rounds 5-10. But many of those rounds were very, very close.

A clean sweep for either guy is impossible for me to agree with. Horrible scoring on that card, even if I agree with that judge's winner. 117-111 seems a little wide to me, too, but at least it's in the realm of reality.

He comes back with a strong overhand right. Left hook from Montiel, and he's hunting Castillo now. Round ends.

Montiel 10-8

Nice stuff from Castillo, but like the last fight, every time he fires, Montiel hits him back, and lands harder.

Montiel 10-9
Montiel 20-17

Montiel misses badly on a lunging left, and if Castillo was sharper he could have really taken advantage there. He had a two-second opening. Montiel might be getting a little wild for his own good.

Better round for Castillo. Actually, worse round for Montiel more than anything. He was sloppy as hell.

Castillo 10-9
Montiel 29-27

Time called, looked like a clash of heads there.

Back at it quickly. Montiel stings him again, and Castillo goes down on a slip, more or less pushed to the ground by accident in the flurry of action. Castillo is biting on every feign tonight.

And Castillo's down again. And he's done. He's not getting up.

Fernando Montiel KO-4

This really is a shit night for us. Moral of the story: Never believe in your Comcast.

Taylor with some really wild swings on the left hooks, Pavlik staying in his fundamental base stance and just moving out of the way. Both land jabs at the exact same moment. Taylor with a jab, then throws another one from outside. And another one.

Pavlik looks quicker on his feet and with his hands tonight. Jab from Pavlik sneaks in right down the pipe. Taylor misses two jabs. Pavlik with the straight right, Taylor ducks low on it.

Pavlik stings him with a nice jab, and Taylor is getting caught upstairs now. About 30 seconds left in the round, a good opening round to be sure.

Two pawing lefts from Pavlik. One-two from Pavlik, nice stuff. Tight round.

Pavlik 10-9

Pavlik working the jab, coming with the straight right, and Taylor is standing his ground. Taylor now takes the jab to Pavlik, and has him backing up a little bit. Taylor's footwork looks really good, and he seems very determined. Pretty obvious thought, but it sticks out.

Pavlik looking for the left uppercut, not finding it. Taylor misses on a left-right-left combo. Pavlik with a straight right to the gut. Taylor looks good so far this round. Nice combination punching with about 30 seconds to go.

Pavlik missing upstairs, and Taylor counters him with a good right hand. Nice right from Taylor at the bell. Good round for Jermain.

Taylor 10-9
19-19

Pavlik's straight right connects twice about a minute in, and then he goes with a left hook to the body, hitting mostly arm. Taylor with a nice, nice combo. Pavlik is getting caught.

Jab from Pavlik. Taylor answers. Taylor is using his hand speed as he should. Pavlik stung with 35 seconds to go.

Another good round for Jermain.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 29-28

Pavlik with a double jab, Taylor answers. Minute and 20 seconds in, Pavlik seems to be getting his own plan of attack implemented. Pavlik sneaks the jab in, Taylor answers again. There's the right from Pavlik. Jab-right from Pavlik, his bread and butter.

There's another right hand. Man, when he starts landing those with consistency...

Taylor with a nice left hook, and he's throwing the leather now, really headhunting. Pavlik is controlled and in control. Two jabs land for Kelly, and the rights are in there again. He is right in Jermain's face. Good round for Pavlik.

Pavlik 10-9
38-38

Jabs and the straight right from Pavlik at the opening of the round. Taylor looks to counter with long jabs, but they miss. Kelly has taken over right now, though I admit his jab doesn't have the snap it did in September.

Well, there's one that did. Straight right in there again. And again. Pavlik misses on a fucking Kid Dynamite uppercut. That would've been game over.

Taylor's jab has been good when he's used it, but it hasn't been there consistently. Pavlik is now definitely landing the harder, cleaner shots, and we all know what kind of trouble that can spell. Pavlik is also landing the occasional substantial body punch.

Taylor with a nice one-two, but Pavlik comes back hard at him. Another round for Pavlik.

Pavlik 10-9
48-47

So far this doesn't have the fireworks their first fight did, but that's understandable. Both guys know each other very well, and know what to stay away from.

Two nice body shots from Taylor. Well, one nice shot that followed one Pavlik blocked. The six pounds make Pavlik look a lot bigger than he does at 160, where he looks lanky.

HARD right from Taylor connects. Jab from Taylor. And he snaps another one in. The jab is really working for him. Body shot from Taylor seems to hurt Pavlik a little.

To the body by Pavlik, Taylor answers upstairs. Taylor stings him again with a quick left. Good round for Taylor.

Taylor 10-9
57-57 through six

Taylor snaps Pavlik's head back with some lefts, but Kelly keeps on moving forward. I'll tell you what: At this moment, Jermain Taylor looks like the much better fighter. And I seriously mean at this moment.

Taylor showing off the hand speed advantage again. This is just clinical stuff from Jermain Taylor. He's beating Pavlik to the punch and hurting him enough to make a difference. Kelly can't stay there and hit right back.

Taylor with a flurry to the body, and they fight to the bell and a little bit past it.

Really good round for Jermain Taylor. Pavlik got beaten up that round.

When Pavlik comes for something big, Taylor knocks him back. Pavlik knocked back on another jab from Taylor. Jermain is beating him down the last two rounds.

Jab from Pavlik, Taylor gets away from him before he can follow up. They trade right until the bell again.

This is a good night for Jermain Taylor. But Pavlik's power is always lurking.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 77-75

Pavlik really going on the offensive. About a minute left, and this has been his round. Jermain shakes him again with a left.

There's the 1-2 from Pavlik. Taylor has done a good job defending against the straight right tonight. Uppercut from Taylor rocks Kelly's head back again. Pavlik is now being straight up beaten in this fight. He might end up needing the knockout.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 87-84

Taylor goes back to using the hand speed. Man has he fought intelligently tonight. This Taylor has been missing since he dropped Pat Burns. The chance in Taylor tonight is very, very real.

Uppercut from Taylor lands from the outside. I don't know what Kelly Pavlik's going to do to win this fight. I really don't. He's being hit harder, more frequently, and just plain being beaten. He's yet to build any real steam.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 97-93

Pavlik seems to be wearing down badly. Taylor is really boxing circles around him right now. Pavlik looks slow, defeated, and out of ideas.

Taylor with a left hook, doesn't land square. I get the impression Jermain could knock Kelly out if he really went at it. Pavlik backs Taylor into the ropes for perhaps the first time all night, but Jermain gets out of there.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 107-102

Pavlik finally hurts Jemain with a hard jab. About a minute left.

The straight right wasn't there tonight. The big punches weren't there. Taylor used superior skill to win this fight and win it with room to spare, I think.

Pavlik 10-9
Taylor 116-112

KELLY PAVLIK VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION

We'll have more later. I did not see that decision at all.