Jermain Taylor looked on the verge of tears as he was interviewed by HBO's Larry Merchant after his grueling unanimous decision loss to Kelly Pavlik, but he should be happy with his performance. Taylor fought hard and well against a fighter he knew had the power to ice him with one right hand, and came up just short. Taylor's struggle to contain his emotions were indicative of how much the fight meant to him. The three judges had the bout 117-111, 116-112, and 115-113, all for Pavlik, whose middleweight title was not on the line. I scored it 115-114 for Pavlik.

It was a partisan crowd in Las Vegas, as the 9,000 plus fans at the MGM Grand screamed “Kelly! Kelly!” The Ohio native put on a workman-like performance, backing Taylor up with his long jab and trying to set up the right hand that ended their first fight in the 7th round and won Pavlik the 160-pound championship. Unlike the first fight there were no knockdowns, although Pavlik landed a couple of flush right hands and a hard right to the body which appeared to hurt Taylor. Taylor wisely kept away from the ropes, but on the occasion he didn't, it looked as if history was dangerously close to repeating itself as Pavlik closed in.

There has been talk of Pavlik, 33-0 (29), defending his title against popular Irishman John Duddy or even Felix Trinidad. Should Pavlik move up to super middleweight, Joe Calzaghe has expressed interest in fighting him for his title after his bout with Bernard Hopkins for the light heavyweight crown in April. Pavlik-Trinidad would be particular intriguing, as Trinidad would get another crack at the 160-pound title which eluded him seven years ago, when it was owned by Hopkins. Both Trinidad and Pavlik have crippling power, and though Trinidad might be faster and a more sound boxer, both men are defensively deficient enough to make a crowd-pleasing fight.

As for Taylor, 27-2-1 (17), he should hold his head up high knowing he held his own against the man who took his title via devastating knockout. The questions about Taylor's abilities can be somewhat muted by his strong showing against Pavlik, and although he didn't win, he didn't lose in the eyes of boxing spectators. In fact, he redeemed himself, and would probably do well to stay put at 160 and take on some of the other fighters in the division. Taylor will never be the next American superstar that so many hoped he would be, but with last night's loss he displayed something even more important — pride.