First loss for Pavlik

Step too far: Hopkins and Pavlik

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Kelly Pavlik has lost his unbeaten record after Bernard Hopkins earned a unanimous points victory in their non-title light-heavyweight bout, held in Atlantic City.

The 43-year-old Hopkins outboxed his 26-year-old opponent, with the judges scoring the contest 119-106, 118-108 and 117-109 in favour of the older man.

Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KOs) had lost three of his previous five fights, including one to Joe Calzaghe, but was still quicker to the punch throughout.

The man known as "The Executioner" landed better combinations and left Pavlik unsteady on his feet on more than one occasion.

In short, it seemed that the step up to light-heavyweight proved a step too far for current WBC and WBO middleweight champion Pavlik (34-1).

He took the fight with Hopkins after struggling to find a quality opponent in his own weight class.

Pavlik, known as "The Ghost", struggled to find his range and looked much slower than his opponent despite being 17 years younger.

Hopkins wobbled Pavlik in the second round with a left uppercut, which caused swelling under the Ohio fighter's right eye.

Continuing to dictate the pace of proceedings, Hopkins avoided Pavlik's jabs and slipped away from the big right hands whilst scoring with short left hooks.

Hopkins had Pavlik in trouble during the seventh round, scoring with a combination to the head and even spoiling the Boardwalk Hall crowd with a little showboating.

Visibly losing confidence, Pavlik went back to his corner at the end of the round with blood streaming from his nose.

Hopkins also finished well, delivering another big combination early in the 12th round, shaking Pavlik again to cap a dominant performance.

Problems

"Styles make fights," Hopkins later said.

"He's a great fighter, but I knew my style and quickness was underrated and was going to give him problems.

"I wanted him to lead, so I could do what I love to do, counter-punch. He was very heavy-handed. I could feel his power, but I never got hurt."

Pavlik said he was eager to move back down to middleweight following the poorest performance of his eight-year career.

"I just couldn't get off tonight," he said.

"I don't know why. It wasn't his slickness, but I just couldn't throw more than a single jab. I couldn't throw a double jab and couldn't do anything that I usually do.

"It wasn't me tonight."