FanHouse KellyPavlik

Andre Ward and Edison Miranda are polar opposites outside of the ring. While Miranda loves to talk an enormous amount of trash to help sell a fight, Ward prefers to let his fist do the talking come fight night.

That's not to say that Miranda hasn't gotten under Ward's skin in the weeks leading up to their May 16 super middleweight bout on Showtime. He surely has, but regardless, Ward continues to brush his opponent's comments aside, while simply vowing to make him "pay for that" come Saturday night.

FanHouse spoke to the 2004 Olympic gold medalist about the Miranda's comments and his climb up the 168-pound ladder. The full interview is after the jump.

Boxing has a hard time attracting new fans for many reasons. Two of the biggest are that no one can keep the weight classes straight and no one can keep the champions straight. Below is my attempt to fix that, listing the legitimate champions in each of the eight traditional weight classes.

World middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik defeated Marco Antonio Rubio Saturday night with an easy, one-sided TKO victory in his home town of Youngstown, Ohio.

Pavlik, who was fighting for the first time since his lopsided loss to Bernard Hopkins in October, had no trouble controlling the pace of the fight, using his jab and his straight right hand to back Rubio away at will.

Welcome to the FanHouse live blog of tonight's welterweight fight between Kelly Pavlik and Marco Antonio Rubio, where we'll provide live, round-by-round updates of all the action.

Our Miguel Cotto-Michael Jennings live blog has come to an end, with Cotto beating Jennings by technical knockout. The Pavlik-Rubio fight will start around 11:20 PM ET and the live blog begins below.

Six months ago, Kelly Pavlik was supposed to be the best boxer in America, maybe the best boxer in the world, and the guy who could take on the title as the sport's biggest star in this country after Oscar De La Hoya retired.

Then he lost to Bernard Hopkins.

Boxing's world middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik is a clear favorite in his title defense Saturday night against Marco Antonio Rubio, but Rubio doesn't sound too worried.

Asked to assess Pavlik as an opponent, Rubio said Wednesday that Pavlik is a legitimate champion, but also a boxer with notable weaknesses.

On Saturday night, boxing fans can watch both Kelly Pavlik and Miguel Cotto for the price of one pay-per-view purchase, as Top Rank is offering an unusual promotion in which Pavlik's and Cotto's fights, held in separate arenas, will be part of one broadcast.

That's the good news. The bad news is that neither Pavlik (who fights Marco Antonio Rubio) nor Cotto (who fights Michael Jennings) is likely to face much of a challenge.

World middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik's stock has fallen since his loss to Bernard Hopkins, and No. 1 contender Arthur Abraham's stock is only high in his native Germany. But a fight between the two of them would be a very big deal for boxing, and it looks like that fight is going to happen.

Abraham's promoter, Wilfried Sauerland, said in an interview with the German web site Abendblatt.de that he expects Abraham to fight Pavlik next year in a battle that would determine without a doubt who the best middleweight in the world is.

Sauerland said of Abraham, who beat Raul Marquez Saturday, "Arthur's future is in the U.S. He wants to fight WBO / WBC champion Kelly Pavlik in the summer and then he will move up to super middleweight."

Sauerland added that a fight with Felix Sturm is unlikely for Abraham, although he has said in other interviews that the fight is possible if it can be done quickly, to give Abraham time to fight Pavlik in the summer.

A full translation of the interview, from Robert at Betwwx, is below.

The 43-year-old former champ Bernard Hopkins found a fountain of youth tonight in Atlantic City, whipping world middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik to win a one-sided decision.

It was one of the most impressive showings of Hopkins' brilliant career: He easily defeated one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, dominating the fight from start to finish. For Pavlik, it was an embarrassing showing, a fight that did a great deal to tarnish his reputation.

Hopkins showed class in the ring afterward, giving the 26-year-old Pavlik a pep talk and telling him that he shouldn't let the loss define him. Pavlik will be back, but there's no denying that the biggest fight of his career so far is also the most disappointing.

Welcome to the FanHouse live blog of tonight's Kelly Pavlik-Bernard Hopkins fight, where we'll provide round-by-round updates of all the action.

The pay-per-view telecast and our live blog have already begun, and the main event will begin around 11 p.m. Eastern.