FanHouse VernonForrest

TAMPA, Fla. -- Several times a year, Fred Tukes leaves his wife Heather, his two-year-old son Jeremiah, and his 14-year-old daughter Alana, at home in Atlanta to go and trade punches with some of the world's best professional boxers.

On Saturday afternoon, I told someone that I thought Floyd Mayweather Jr. would beat Manny Pacquiao, if the fight between the world's two best boxers finally materializes. After watching Pacquiao destroy Ricky Hatton on Saturday night, I no longer think that.

In fact, I now think this: Pacquiao, the little man who started his professional boxing career in the Philippines fighting at 106 pounds, would beat any boxer at any weight class under 160. Yes, you read that right: Pacquiao would have to move all the way up to middleweight before I'd bet against him.

There are four title fights on cable TV Saturday night, a bonanza for fight fans who won't have to pony up for pay-per-view to catch some good boxing. Since it's boxing in 2008, there's gotta be a drawback and in this case it is that two fights are on HBO and the other two are on Showtime. Still, some judicious flipping and/or the use of a DVR should make it a full night of pugilistic enjoyment.

We'll start by looking at the two HBO fights, live from Atlantic City at 10PM Eastern.

Kelly Pavlik (33-0) vs. Gary Lockett (30-1) for the WBC, WBO and Ring Magazine Middleweight Titles
We start with Pavlik because he's the biggest name, not because this is going to be the best fight of the night. Lockett is a mandatory challenger for Pavlik and he's going to have to come up with a pretty magical effort to hang with Pavlik. He's never fought in the United States before, never fought anyone close to Pavlik's ability and doesn't have the skills of Jermain Taylor or Edison Miranda, each of whom couldn't solve Pavlik's mix of punching power and boxing skills. Unless Pavlik is looking past Lockett, he should end this one fairly early.