Kelly Pavlik

Boxer Kelly Pavlik has his arm raised in victory by referee Frank Garza, right, after challenger Marco Antonio Rubo, of Mexico, failed to come out for the 10th round of a WBC/WBO World Middleweight Championship fight on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009 at Chevrolet Centre in Youngstown, Ohio. "There's no place like home," Pavlik said in the ring afterward. "What a way to bounce back in front of my hometown."

World middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik defeated Marco Antonio Rubio Saturday night with an easy, one-sided TKO victory in his home town of Youngstown, Ohio. Pavlik, who was fighting for the first time since his lopsided loss to Bernard Hopkins in October, had no trouble controlling the pace of the fight, using his jab and his straight right hand to back Rubio away at will. Rubio mounted almost no offense at all for much of the fight, and finally, after Pavlik battered him for nine rounds, Rubio didn't answer the bell for the 10th.

Still, for as one-sided a fight as it was, it wasn't a great performance from Pavlik. He never sent Rubio to the canvas and often looked hesitant. The way Rubio fought tonight, it's hard to see why a champion like Pavlik needed nine rounds to finish him off. Pavlik, who improved his record to 35-1, retained his Ring Magazine, WBO and WBC middleweight titles. Rubio fell to 43-5-1.

John Duddy

John Duddy (26-0) kept his perfect record intact when he banged out a unanimous 12-round decision against Matt Vanda (39-9) in a middleweight bout that highlighted the Garden undercard. Although Duddy, from Derry, Ireland, owns 17 knockouts, he was forced to go the distance for the sixth time in the last seven bouts. Vanda, who hails from St. Paul, lost for the fourth time in his last six contests.

Duddy was by far the more active of the two combatants, landing 254 of the 703 punches he threw (36 percent) to 190 of 474 (40 percent) for his opponent. Duddy kept the hard-hitting Vanda at a distance by averaging 45 jabs per round. Vanda came on to dominate the last round but never had the defensive-minded Duddy in any serious trouble in his desperation for a knockout. "He didn't do anything until then, so he had to do something," Duddy said. "He kicked the wee out of me a little bit, but I'm still standing."

Irish-born New Yorker John Duddy (26-0) handled Minnesotan Matt Vanda (39-9) in a middleweight tussle. Decent round one for both guys. Vanda pumped a jab, and dug in a couple hooks. Duddy feinted, and parried, and jabbed more than we’d seen before. Work with Pat Burns looked like it paid off. He didn’t wait for a receipt so much either, in the second. Duddy fought smart in the middle rounds. The action wasn’t so scintillating for the fans, who thought this one would be a tradefest. Duddy isn’t so wide with his shots under Burns, that’s another difference we saw at MSG.