By Joe Scalzo

February 15, 2008

Couple things to pass on this morning/afternoon (depending on your time zone):

As I wrote in an earlier blog, you can watch today’s weigh-in between Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor live at 5:30 p.m. EST on HBO.com. If you’re in Vegas, the weigh-in will be at Studios A&B (right next to the Garden Arena) inside the MGM Grand. The weigh-in for the first fight was crazy, with a couple thousand Pavlik fans showing up and taking over the place. Everyone in Pavlik’s camp walked away from that event shaking their heads and saying, “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Most weigh-ins aren’t that interesting. They get a lot of press because, well, what else are we going to write about? But unless someone misses weight -- and I can’t imagine that happening today, since Pavlik and Taylor each have an extra six pounds over their normal 160-pound limit -- you’re basically watching millionaires in their underwear step on a scale.

Then again, tomorrow you’ll be watching shirtless millionaires punch each other in the face. It’s best if you don’t overanalyze these things.

Local fan Greg Smith wrote an article about Pavlik on Defendyoungstown.com. There are all kinds of good things Pavlik-related on this site, so if you get a few minutes, check it out.

Former Vindicator sports writer and all-around good guy Brian Richesson helps run a boxing Web site that focuses mostly on up-and-coming fighters in the Florida area. But it also has recaps of HBO/ESPN/Showtime fights in the “World Beat” section. If you want to check it out, visit http://floridaboxingbeatdown.com. Many of the fighters are from Dan Birmingham’s gym. Birmingham is a Youngstown native who works with Winky Wright and Jeff Lacy.

Buying the pay-per-view or watching the fight live? Here’s the undercard, which starts at 9 p.m.:
Ronald Hearns (Tommy’s son, who has a record of 17-0 with 13 KOs) will fight Juan Astorga (11-1-1, 6 KOs) in an eight-round junior middleweight bout. Hearns also fought on the undercard of Pavlik-Taylor I in Atlantic City and he absolutely starched this poor guy. He definitely inherited his father’s punching power.
After that bout, WBC super flyweight champion Cristian Mijares (33-3-2, 13 KOs) will face Jose Navarro (26-3, 12 KOs), followed by a WBO super flyweight bout between champion Fernando Montiel (35-2-1, 26 KOs) and Martin Castillo (33-2, 17 KOs). Both are 12-rounders.

Looking to gamble? The over-under for the Pavlik-Taylor bout is 10 1/2 rounds. Pavlik has only fought one bout that went more than eight rounds -- a ninth round knockout of Fulgencio Zuniga. If you’re in town, it might not be a bad idea to bet the under. Pavlik is slightly favored overall to beat Taylor.