Pavlik vs. Williams Boxing Clash Lands On HBO Fight Card

World Middleweight Champion Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik returns to Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on Saturday, December 5, for the biggest gamble of his world title reign as he faces two-division world champion Paul “The Punisher” Williams.

Promoted by Top Rank and Goossen Tutor Promotions, in association with Caesars Atlantic City, the Pavlik vs. Williams world title fight will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT.

Combined, these two sluggers boast an incredible record of 72-2 (58 KOs), a winning percentage of 98% and a victory by knockout ratio of 80%.

“My world title reign has been no different than my world title climb. I keep fighting the best men out there,” said Pavlik. “My two title defenses have been against the No. 1 contenders. Now I’m getting the fight I have wanted most of all, against Paul Williams.

“I’m not content being the World Middleweight Champion, I want to be the best man in the game, pound for pound. Defeating Williams will go a long way to making my case I will be 200% for this fight because that’s what it will take to win.”

“I’m not looking down on Pavlik. This fight will be fought eye-to-eye,” said Williams. “It’s a fight that’s overdue. The public has wanted to see this from the moment that they heard talk of it. Even before Pavlik-Hopkins.

“I haven’t been able to receive the props that I deserve at this point in my career as an athlete. I have not been able to get the quality of fight that I wanted and I appreciate that Pavlik has stepped up. I believe that upon defeating Pavlik, I will get the accolades that are due.”

“Kelly Pavlik is a superstar because he has always accepted the biggest challenges,” said Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank. “Now Kelly faces the toughest test of his middleweight title reign in fellow world champion Paul Williams, who proved he was the goods when he manhandled Winky Wright in his last fight. This isn’t just the class of the division facing off. It’s the class of boxing.”

“From 147 to 168 pounds, there is no one better than Paul Williams,” said Dan Goossen, president of Goossen Tutor Promotions. “That is why he is known as the most feared fighter in boxing. This fight will cement Paul’s standing as the best middleweight in the world.”

“Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams have established their credentials as elite fighters and with their respective styles, boxing fans everywhere are in for a very early holiday gift,” said HBO Sports senior vice president Kery Davis.

“These are battle-tested American middleweights who are sure to produce a memorable night of action under the bright lights.”

“Caesars is very excited to welcome world champion Kelly Pavlik and his huge contingent of Youngstown, Ohio fans back to Atlantic City,” said Harrah’s Entertainment Sports & Entertainment Consultant Ken Condon.

“We are looking forward to what is sure to be another fabulous night of championship boxing at Boardwalk Hall with these two exciting world champions.”

Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs), the star from Youngstown, Ohio, joins former lightweight champions Harry Arroyo and Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini as hometown world champions.

Pavlik had a career year in 2007 against three of the best who boasted a combined record of 74-4-3 (55 KOs) when he faced them. The consensus “Fighter of the Year” for 2007, Pavlik knocked out Jose Luis Zertuche and Edison Miranda in world title elimination bouts, earning him the right to become Jermain Taylor’s mandatory challenger.

His year-end finale, a seventh-round stoppage of the previously undefeated Taylor, to claim the world middleweight championship, was selected as the “Fight of the Year” by the Boxing Writers Association of America and extended Pavlik’s two-year victory by knockout streak to nine bouts.

Pavlik defeated Taylor handily in their rematch in February 2008 to solidify his claim as one of boxing’s top pound for pound fighters. He has successfully defended the title twice, both by knockout, against Gary Lockett and Marco Antonio Rubio, the No. 1 contenders and mandatory challengers for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and the World Boxing Council (WBC), respectively.

Williams (37-1, 27 KOs), from Atlanta, Georgia, boasts a 73% victory by knockout ratio and five victories over world champions, two good reasons why he is known as boxing’s “Most Feared Fighter.”

The tall southpaw with the endless reserve of power and energy has twice captured the WBO welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito in 2007 and a first-round TKO of Quintano in 2008, avenging the only loss on his professional resume.

Unable to get fellow welterweight champions to fight him in title unification bouts, Williams moved up to the junior middleweight division and closed out 2008 by knocking out three-time junior middleweight champion Verno Phillips in the eighth round to capture the WBO interim junior middleweight title, which he still holds.

Williams returns to the ring after one of his most impressive victories, a thorough blitzkrieg of two-time junior middleweight champion Winky Wright last April. It was a complete beatdown. Williams kept an extremely fast pace from the first bell through the last, consistently landing the harder punches to produce a near shutout on scorecards, 120-108, 119-109 and 119-109.

If three world titles weren’t enough, the victory over master technician Wright served notice to the boxing world that Williams should be feared.