It was Sept. 29, 2007, and there were many within the boisterous crowd of 10,127 who packed into Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall who wondered if their hometown hero, Kelly Pavlik, would go down in the first defeat of his career.Pavlik estimated that close to 8,000 of his faithful had traveled from his native Youngstown, Ohio, to support him. Pavlik could hear them as they screamed encouragement, even as he woozily sank to his stool, having been blasted to the canvas by nearly 20 unanswered punches from Jermain Taylor.
"Are you OK? Can you continue?" asked cornerman Jack Loew, Pavlik's trainer since he first laced up the gloves at age 9.
