Kelly Pavlik will defend his World Boxing Council middleweight crown against former welterweight and junior middleweight champion Paul Williams here on December 5.
Pavlik, 35-1 with 31 knockouts, suffered his only loss last October at Atlantic City in a 12-round unanimous decision to fellow American Bernard Hopkins after moving up to 170 pounds.
"What I took from the Hopkins loss is how to bounce back," Pavlik said. "That night was so frustrating for me. I have a lot to prove still. I am hungry and I want to go down in history as one of the best middleweights of all time."
Pavlik rebounded last February by stopping Mexico's Marco Antonio Rubio in the ninth round to retain his 160-pound crown, which he risks for a third time against US southpaw Williams, 37-1 with 27 knockouts.
"I?m not content being the world middleweight champion. I want to be the best man in the game pound for pound," Pavlik said. "Defeating Williams will go a long way to making my case."
Williams suffered his lone loss to Puerto Rico's Carlos Quintana in February of 2008 in a unanimous 12-round decision but avenged the defeat four months later and has won three times since, most recently by unanimous decision over Winky Wright last April.
"I bring too much action to the fight for him," Williams said. "His game plan is to try to hit me with a power shot and hurt me to get some respect. I am going to weather that storm and come back and hit him with some big shots.
"People ask if I can deal with a middleweight punch. Will I fold or will I stand up? I am going to stand up. I think I'm going to put him to sleep."
Copyright 2009  AFP Global Edition
