Gary Lockett v Kelly Pavlik

Gary Lockett was no match whatsoever for Kelly Pavlik, who made quick work of the Welshman in Atlantic City.

Making his first defence of the WBC and WBO middleweight titles, Pavlik scored a technical knockout of Lockett at one minutes 40 seconds of the third round at Boardwalk Hall.

Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) knocked down Lockett (30-2) twice in the second round before sending him to the canvas again in the third.

Upon returning to his feet, Lockett watched as his corner threw in the towel, ending the bout before the challenger suffered any more serious damage.

Pavlik overcame a second-round knockdown against Jermain Taylor last September to score a shocking seventh-round technical KO.

The 26-year-old proved the victory was not a fluke by posting a unanimous decision in a non-title rematch five months later.

Hoping to pull off a surprising triumph of his own, Lockett proved he was not in the same league as Pavlik.

After sustaining a hard right hand to the head with one minute 20secs remaining in the first round, the challenger went down to one knee after receiving a pair of punishing rights to the head midway through the second.

Back on his feet as referee Eddie Cotton’s count reached eight, Lockett was rocked with another crushing right hand with 17 seconds remaining in the round, again dropping to one knee but returning to an upright position at the count of eight.

With blood trickling from his nose as well as from under his left eye, Lockett gamely answered the bell for round three but saw his dream of producing an upset win quickly ended.

Lockett said: “I just couldn’t see the punches coming.

“He’s a fabulous fighter. Every time he threw punches, it felt like he was making me pay for it.”

Pavlik said: “I was catching him with good shots. He was smart to take a knee when I hurt him. I knew each time he took a knee, I had buzzed him.”

On the undercard, Juan Manuel Lopez captured the WBO junior featherweight crown with a first-round technical knockout of Daniel Ponce de Leon in a battle of southpaws.

Making his seventh defence of the title he claimed in October 2005, Ponce de Leon (34-2) landed just six punches before the bout was stopped at 2:25 of the opening round.

The 24-year-old Lopez (22-0, 20 KOs) knocked down his opponent with a right hook less than two minutes into the match, then sent the Mexican to the canvas a second time when he completed a flurry of punches with another right hook.

Ponce de Leon, 27, got back to his feet but staggered and fell back into the corner, prompting referee Mike Ortega to stop the fight.

With his WBO Intercontinental super featherweight belt on the line, England’s Kevin Mitchell recorded a fifth-round technical KO of Walter Estrada in his American debut.

The 23-year-old from Dagenham knocked his Colombian opponent to the canvas with a body shot at the end of the fifth, and Estrada (34-6) – who was visibly dazed – was deemed unable to continue.

With the triumph, Mitchell remained unbeaten at 27-0 with 20 knockouts.