BOXING

• Pavlik levels Lockett to keep middleweight belts

  
  

  Atlantic City, NJ (Sports Network) - Kelly Pavlik remained unbeaten and retained his WBC and WBO middleweight titles with a third-round technical knockout of Welshman Gary Lockett Saturday night.

  Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs), from Youngstown, Ohio, coming off back-to-back wins over former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, sent Lockett to one knee three times in the fight.

  "Gary has good power. My jab was working and it stopped him in his tracks," Pavlik said. "I was hitting him with good shots." The second round was particularly damaging, when Pavlik landed 41-of-82 punches.

  The champion used body shots and then a right to the face to stun Lockett, who dropped to a knee at the midway point. Already sporting a bruise on the right side of his forehead, Lockett (30-2) went to a knee again in the final 20 seconds after another right to the face, and this time he was bleeding from the left eye.

  In the third round, Lockett went to a knee when Pavlik used a right hand to drill him behind the ear.

  Lockett beat the count of 10 by referee Eddie Cotton, but Lockett's trainer, Enzo Calzaghe, threw in the towel, officially ending the bout at the 1:40 mark of the round.

  "I just didn't see the shots coming," Lockett said.

  "He punches hard. It wasn't the one punch it was an accumulation. He's a fast fighter. The shots I hit him with were not enough. It was the accumulation of punches that got me." After the fight, the 26-year-old Pavlik said he would take on anyone that steps in his way.

  "If they wanted me to fight Godzilla, I will fight Godzilla," Pavlik said.

  There was a shocking result on the undercard as Juan Manuel Lopez took away Daniel Ponce De Leon's WBO super bantamweight title with a first-round TKO.

  Lopez (22-0, 20 KOs), in his initial title bout, floored De Leon twice, first using a right to the face and then pounded away in the corner with several uncontested combinations upstairs. De Leon had no defense, keeping his gloves down as Lopez continued the assault before the champ tumbled to the canvas a second time. The fight was stopped with 35 seconds left in the round.

  "I told everyone I had what I had to become champion," Lopez said. "I think I proved a lot to people tonight. Every fighter has a lot to show. I knew I had confidence and I would do this tonight." This was the seventh title defense for De Leon (34-2), who won the belt in 2005.

  "He surprised me," De Leon said. "I came to the ring very confident. He got me with a very good shot. I think I could have continued, but the referee did his job. I'm okay. Hopefully he can give me a rematch."

  06/08 01:54:41 ET