HBO Pay Per View Sets Pavlik-Taylor Rematch

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HBO’s pay-per-view arm will distribute the Feb. 16 rematch between current middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and former champion Jermain Taylor from Las Vegas.

Pavlik won the middleweight title by knocking out Taylor in their Sept. 29 bout, which ran on HBO. But his 160-pound title will not be on the line for the rematch -- the two fighters will battle as 166-pound super middleweights, according to HBO officials.

A week later HBO will telecast the heavyweight championship unification bout between International Boxing Federation champion Wladimir Klitschko and World Boxing Organization titleholder Sultan Ibragimov.

Also in the heavyweight division, Showtime’s Championship Boxing franchise is scheduled to air live the Feb. 2 match between World Boxing Champion Oleg Maskaev and contender Samuel Peter. The network will also telecast a tripleheader boxing card on Dec. 1, featuring the Antonio Tarver -Danny Santiago light heavyweight bout, the Vernon Forrest-Michele Piccirillo junior middleweight title fight and the Nonito Donaire-Luis Maldonado flyweight title bout, according to the network.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.