Pavlik stops Lockett in third round

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- In a little more than a year, Kelly Pavlik has gone from relative unknown to chairman of the boardwalk and middleweight king.

Pavlik (34-0) got back on the knockout path Saturday night, stopping unheralded Welshman Gary Lockett (30-2) with a punishing assault in the third round of his first title defense before a raucous crowd at Boardwalk Hall.

Nearly everyone considered Lockett a mere tuneup for the hard-punching Pavlik, who captured the WBC and WBO versions of the middleweight championship when he stopped previously unbeaten Jermain Taylor in the same building last September.

Pavlik, from Youngstown, Ohio, stunned Lockett in the opening round and dropped him to a knee twice in the second, and by the third round Lockett’s corner had thrown in the towel, ending the fight.