Kelly Pavlik successfully defended his Middleweight title, beating No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger Marco Antonio Rubio by TKO Saturday night in front of a record setting capacity crowd of 7,228 at the Chevrolet Center in downtown Youngstown. Rubio's trainers threw in the towel after the 9th round was complete to seal the win for "The Ghost." Pavlik won every round on all three of the judge's scorecards, leading the fight 90-81 prior to the stoppage. "The Ghost" never knocked Rubio down in the fight, but WBC mandatory challeger never answered the bell in the 10th round. Pavlik improves his record to 35-1 overall with 31 knockouts.
Round one - Pavlik wins
Round two - Pavlik wins
Round three - Pavlik wins
Round four - Pavlik wins
Round five - Pavlik wins
Round six - Pavlik wins
Round seven - Pavlik wins
Round eight - Pavlik wins
Round nine - Pavlik wins fight by TKO
