Boxing Preview: Kelly Pavlik vs. Sergio Martinez

Kelly Pavlik puts his WBC and WBO middleweight title belts at risk tonight against Sergio Martinez at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ.

Pavlik, 36-1 (32), is making his third appearance since going up to super middle and getting schooled by ageless modern day great Bernard Hopkins and it will be interesting to see if there are is any remaining confidence issues for the Ohio based champion.

Martinez, 44-2-2 (24), is finally getting a world title shot after 12 years as a professional but the Argentine southpaw has had to go up to middleweight for the opportunity.

Most recently, Martinez lost a very close majority decision to former WBO welter titlist Paul Williams in December and previously held the Interim WBC light middle title by defeating Alex Bunema in 2008 and defending it by draw against Kermit Cintron in February, 2009.

Pavlik has won two straight, stopping challengers Marco Antonio Rubio and Miguel Angel Espino in 2009 but neither opponents were at the skill level of Martinez.

If Martinez can follow the Hopkins plan and make Pavlik miss and eat counter shots all night, he’ll walk away with the title belts but that is a very tall order to ask of the 35 year old Madrid based boxer.

If Pavlik can back Martinez up and keep him on the outside, the champion can put his excellent boxing skills to good use, particularly Pavlik’s powerful right hand.

It will be a major upset if Martinez can pull off the victory and it’s likely Pavlik will retain the WBC and WBO belts by close decision after a hard fought 12 rounds.

The undercard sees NABA welter champ Mike Jones, 20-0 (16), try to add the vacant NABO strap when he defends against Hector Munoz, 18-2-1 (11), over 10 frames.