Pavlik still middleweight king

Pavlik: Back with a bang

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Kelly Pavlik retained his WBC and WBO middleweight titles when Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio refused to answer the bell for the 10th round.

Fighting in front of a partisan crowd, Youngstown's favourite fighter bounced back from the first loss of his career against Bernard Hopkins last October to demolish his opponent with a confident display of power punching.

Far from being haunted by the one-sided defeat to Hopkins, 'The Ghost' set the tone for the fight in the first round with some punishing right hands that had Rubio off balance.

Pavlik dominated the first half with solid combinations behind a tight jab and a big right hand landed flush in the fifth, sending the Mexican's head rocking back.

On top

Rubio had some success in the sixth and seventh rounds but Pavlik was well on top again in the next and a lop-sided ninth spelled the end for the challenger, who subsequently cried enough.

"There's no place like home," said Pavlik, who moved to 35-1 with 31 stoppages. "Fighting for the first time in front of your hometown after a loss, you know you have pressure.

"What a way to bounce back. We put the loss behind us. The biggest thing was to put it behind us mentally more than physically and we did that.

"He made it a little harder but we still landed some big shots."