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The past, nearly 10 months have been anything but joyous for Kelly Pavlik, the WBO and WBC middlewieght champion.

A native of blue collar Youngstown, Ohio, Pavlik was hailed as perhaps the sport's next matinee idol when he bravely rose from being floored and nearly knocked out in the second round of his seventh-round stoppage of previously, unbeaten and undisputed middleweight champion, Jermain Taylor.

But Pavik has recently endured questions about his courage from those in Youngstown and abroad -- even as he said that he survived a near-death experience that resulted from a staph infection in his left forefinger which forced the cancellation of a Dec. 5 title defense against talented Paul Williams (37-1, 27 knockouts).

"We weren't surprised. This is really the fourth time, now, so this fight will never take place," said Williams' trainer and manager, George Peterson, to FanHouse on Oct. 21.

"We're going to move on," said Peterson. "There's is no injury. He [Pavlik] just needs a heart transplant."

Paul 'The Punisher' Williams is not only tall, rangy and talented, but the two-time welterweight and one-time junior middleweight champion appears to have an endless reserve of energy that allows him to throw punches forever and at a high rate.

In his most recent victory over former world champion Winky Wright, Williams threw 1,086 punches -- an average of 91 punches per round that far exceeds the middleweight average of 51 per round.

Five-, three-, two-, two-, and, one.

The decreasing number of rounds within which it has taken John Molina (18-0) to dispatch his last five opponents is as undeniable as it is impressive.

"I can see the progression. I saw, in myself, a more well-rounded fighter in my last fight -- even though it lasted only 34 seconds. That's how much we're on my game right now," said Molina, referring to September's first-round knockout of Efren Hinojosa.

"I notice more where my hands are. I notice certain leverage points. I notice certain punches that I'm using to take a guy out of there. I'm not content or satisfied with where I'm at," said Molina, 26. "I want to get to the top, and I believe that I possess the power and the strength to be a dominating force within the weight division."

George Peterson claims not to know why Paul "The Punisher" Williams is among the most feared boxers in the sport.

And then he gives a perfect argument as to why.

"Walter Mathese was 25 fights with 24 knockouts. Nobody wanted to fight him. Paul fought him and stopped him. Antonio Margarito was most feared. Nobody wanted to fight him. Paul got in there and beat the breaks off of him. Then it was Winky Wright. This goes on and on," said Peterson, Williams manager and trainer.

"Paul will fight anybody from 147-to-160 right now -- whether it's Manny Pacquiao, or Miguel Cotto, or Andre Berto, or Shane Mosley. It doesn't matter," said Peterson. "I can't understand why everyone calls everyone else out, but nobody calls out Paul Williams. All that we want to do is to get their butts into the ring."

A two-time welterweight and one-time junior middleweight champion, Williams (37-1, 27 knockouts) will take on Sergio Martinez (44-1, 24 KOs) in a Dec. 5, nontitle middleweight (160 pounds) clash of southpaws in Atlantic City.

Junior middleweight Shawn Porter, whose intense sparring prepared Manny Pacquiao for his 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14, scored a fourth-round knockout against Jerome Ellis on Saturday night at Fitzgerald's Casino & Hotel, Tunica, Miss.

Known for his speed, power and Cotto-like left hook, the 22-year-old Porter scored his ninth career knockout to improve to 11-0.

The stoppage was the fourth straight for Porter, whose previous three KOs had come in the first round. Porter's 154-pound bout with Ellis was scheduled for eight rounds.

The 31-year-old Ellis slipped to 12-10-2, with 10 knockouts. Ellis, who was stopped for only the second time in his career, was coming off of an eighth-round, split-decision victory over Jamaal Davis in May.

For Oleg Maskaev to be in contention for a heavyweight world title is incredible considering the obstacles he has overcome both in and out of the ring.

There was his near-death experience as a 16-year-old coal miner in his native Zhambul, Kazakhstan, and the fact that only his budding, amateur boxing career saved the former Soviet leutenant from being sent into the war in Afganistan.

Knocked out in all of his six losses, Maskaev overcame a suspect chin to earn his biggest career wins -- two knockouts of former world champ, Hasim Rahman, with the second earning him a brief stint as WBC champion.

Maskaev says that he suffered a broken right elbow during the rematch with Rahman, an injury he endured during a subsequent win over Peter Okhello, as well as in a loss to Samuel Peter.

But now, Maskaev (36-6, 27 knockouts), who turns 41 in March, finds himself, yet again, on the verge of title contention.

For with a Dec. 11 victory over Dominican-born, Nagy Aguilera (14-2, nine KOs), Maskaev would earn a matchup with 39-year-old Ray Austin (28-4-4, 18 KOs). The winner of Maskaev-Austin positions himself for a shot at WBC king, Vitali Klitschko (38-2, 37 KOs), whom Maskaev knocked out in the first round as an amateur.

FanHouse caught up recently with Maskaev, who has dual citizenship in America and the United States.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said that the early pay-per-view numbers released on Manny Pacquiao's victory over Miguel Cotto are "over a million and under 1.5 million buys -- and that's without all of the precincts being reported."

"They're not really accurate yet, but all that we can say with absolute certainty is that Pacquiao-Cotto was the biggest, revenue-producing event on pay-per-view for the entire year," said Arum. "And that surpasses all of the UFC. Everything. Any event. It's the biggest event of the year from the standpoint of revenue being generated."

Arum, who promotes Pacquiao (50-3-2, 37 knockouts), said that he met with officials at HBO on Thursday concerning the numbers.

Noted boxing historian Bert Sugar believes that a clash between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao would rival Sugar Ray Leonard's comeback 14th-round knockout of Thomas Hearns in September 1981, when the victor trailed by four, three and two points, respectively, on the three judges' cards.

Calling it "today's Super Bowl of boxing," Sugar said the demand and scope of Mayweather-Pacquio "easily passes" Felix Trinidad's controversial September 1999, 12-round majority decision over Oscar De La Hoya, even as theirs was a clash of a Puerto Rican icon in Trinidad and a cross-over Mexican-American star in De La Hoya.

"[Mayweather-Pacquiao] has international appeal, particularly in Asia. And you've got HBO, which will be pumping it with their 24/7 series. It will be the fight of the century," said Sugar, who, as then-editor of Ring Magazine, named Leonard-Hearns "Fight Of The Year."

Don't wish Bernard Hopkins success, wish him failure.

Specifically, tell the 44-year-old boxer that he's so far past his prime, that you believe he'll lose on Dec. 2 to unheralded 29-year-old Enrique Ornelas, the man he will meet in a non-title, 12-round light heavyweight (175 pounds) bout at Temple University's Liacouras Center in Hopkins' hometown of Philadelphia.

"People have written me off a lot of times in my life, and that's been my biggest motivation. I've always needed people to be rooting against me," said Hopkins, a former Philadelphia street criminal who survived three stabbings, was imprisoned at age 18 for five years, and released in 1988.

"I did not let the street life destroy me. I'm that throwback Philadephia fighter who just happened to take care of himself, and that's why I'm still here," said Hopkins, who is 49-5, with 32 knockouts.

Two days after guiding Manny Pacquiao to Saturday night's historic victory over Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas, trainer Freddie Roach was back in Los Angeles, where he runs the famous Wild Card Boxing Club.

And even as he worked with another world champion, Amir Khan, as well as other prospects, the Hall of Fame trainer and three-time Trainer Of The Year took the time, on Tuesday, to answer the gym's telephone.

"I'm a little bit tired, and a little bit drained right now, but I can't show that to the fighters," said Roach, speaking against the gym's background noise of the bustling boxers pounding on the heavy-, and speed-bags, as well as the ringing bells of those who were sparring. "Once I get into the gym, I work through it."

A former trainer for Bernard Hopkins, Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya, Virgil Hill and James Toney, among others, Roach took a break long enough to share Q&A time with FanHouse.

The 49-year-old boxing guru shared his views on Pacquiao's overall talents, Cotto's future, his intense relationship with Cotto's trainer, Joe Santiago, and how he would like his pound-for-pound best fighter to close out his illustrious career.