Last night in Youngstown, Ohio the fans were treated to a glorified sparring session between middleweight champion Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik and Marco Antonio Rubio. Not much can really be said about the fight. Pavlik worked the old one two all night long throwing in the occasional hook to the head and body just for good measure. And what did Rubio do? He stood there and took it offering very little offense of his own. This bout was as one sided as one sided can get. Pavlik had Rubio hurt in the eighth and ninth round but to Rubio’s credit he never went down, a moral victory of sorts I suppose. The Kelly Pavlik beating was simply too much for Rubio as he quit in his corner between the ninth and tenth round. The night could not have gone any better for Pavlik, whose previous fight was a loss to Bernard Hopkins. This fight was a measuring stick to see how Pavlik would bounce back from losing. Good news for Pavlik and crew; he bounced back well. I suspect we'll see Pavlik in against better opposition next time out.

Meanwhile back in New York, Miguel Cotto was on the comeback trail himself. Cotto’s last outing was a brutal beating at the hands of the now suspended Antonio Margarito. On Saturday night Cotto met little known Michael Jennings. Cotto had to chase down Jennings who used the large ring to his advantage. Once Cotto closed the gap, he landed some bombs that dropped Jennings twice In the fourth round and finished him off in the fifth. With the win Cotto picked up the vacant WBO title. As it is the case with  Kelly Pavlik, I expect Cotto to be in against tougher competition in his next outing.

Also from Madison Square Garden in New York City “Irish” John Duddy squared off against the East St. Paul, Minnesota, native Matt Vanda. Duddy used a stiff jab to keep Vanda on the outside for most of the night. It was clear Duddy was the stronger of the two but Vanda did get in some decent shots of his own from time to time. Going into the tenth and final round it was clear Vanda needed a knockout to win and he went for broke, landing some crushing shots to Duddy's head. However, it was to little, too late for Vanda, as the final bell rung. Duddy was the victor on all scorecards keeping his record perfect.