There are dozens of boxers who have world title belts around their waists who are nowhere good as Jose Navarro.

These men have nowhere near as much heart, toughness and ring smarts. But Navarro is likely never to join them in that elite class of men who can call themselves world champions.

Navarro lost his fourth, and what was probably his last, crack at a world title on Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas when he was beaten by the magnificent Cristian Mijares in a bid for the WBC super flyweight championship.

Navarro's loss got a bit more attention than normal Saturday action because of the odd score of judge Doug Tucker, who gave Navarro every round. Judge Adalaide Byrd had it 117-111 for Mijares and Chris Wilson had it 115-113 for the reigning champion.

I scored it 116-112 for Mijares, who is clearly one of the world's elite boxers.

So, too, though, is Navarro. On Jan. 3, 2005 in Tokyo, in his first crack at a world title, most observers thought he'd won the WBC super flyweight

LAS VEGAS – Jermain Taylor fought Kelly Pavlik's fight in September and got knocked out and lost his middleweight championship.

In their non-title rematch on Saturday, Taylor fought the fight he had hoped to fight the first time.

And Pavlik still came out on top.

If they fought 100 times, Pavlik would probably win 95. But each of them would be entertaining.

"I don't see why, but if they want us to do it, we'll take the payday," Pavlik trainer Jack Loew said, shrugging his shoulders, of a potential third meeting between the two after Pavlik scored a unanimous decision in a more tactical but still exciting bout before a loud crowd of 9,706 at the MGM Grand Garden.

Pavlik won by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113 by virtually sweeping the second half of the bout. He did it with what he called stingers in both hands, which he will have X-rayed to check for breaks.

Taylor's fatal flaw has been his inability to finish and it haunted him on Saturday in a fight that was there for him to

LAS VEGAS -- Here is the round-by-round coverage of Kelly Pavlik's unanimous-decision win over Jermain Taylor at the MGM Grand. Official scores were 117-111; 115-113; 116-112.

ROUND 1
Crowd chanting for Pavlik as fight begins. They're in the center of the ring popping jabs. Taylor lands a hard jab. Taylor double jabs and Pavlik lands a right. Taylor's jab is fast and hard. Pavlik lands a short left inside. Taylor is working the jab hard. Hard right by Pavlik and then a right and a left. Taylor is backing up.
Iole scores it 10-9 Pavlik

ROUND 2
Taylor is moving his upper body a lot, much more than in the first fight. Pavlik is stalking patiently. Short right by Taylor lands. Pavlik right hand gets in. Taylor firing a jab. Pavlik comes back with a right. Taylor is backing away as Pavlik misses a right badly. Crowd

LAS VEGAS – The second round of Jermain Taylor's first fight with Kelly Pavlik has been scrutinized in greater detail over the past five months than the Zapruder film.

Taylor was defending his WBC and WBO middleweight titles against Pavlik at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., on Sept. 29 when a looping right hand caught Pavlik above and slightly behind the left ear.

Pavlik immediately lost his equilibrium and began staggering around the ring like the last person at a New Year's Eve party before collapsing in a heap in a corner.

But Pavlik not only managed to rise before the count of 10, he also managed to survive the remaining 90-odd seconds in the round without being hit by another significant punch. His head was so clear that he won the third round and eventually, the fight and the titles by knocking Taylor out in the seventh.

Taylor, apparently, is basing his hope of gaining revenge in tonight's pay-per-view rematch at the MGM Grand Garden on being in better condition, which

Antonio Silva was making the point that he feels quicker and more athletic when he's small.

But to Silva, small is a relative term. Because at 6 feet, 4 inches, 260 pounds with a size-16 shoe and fists the size of ham hocks, Silva's small is most folks' XXXXL.

And there aren't as many guys of his size and his thickness who are able to do a cartwheel, as Silva is able to do. He tried one after a recent fight as a promise to his daughter, Anne, and it turned out to be a miserable failure.

He's about the size of 2½ gymnasts combined, but defending his less-than-artistic success by pointing out that "people were coming into the ring to congratulate me and I was trying to get it done too fast before I would hit anyone."

It may be promoter Gary Shaw who does a cartwheel tonight – or at least thinks of doing one – if Silva is able to impressively defeat Ricco Rodriguez on a Showtime-televised Elite XC card at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Fla.

That's because Silva will make himself

LAS VEGAS – Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor meet Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden in a rematch of their Sept. 29 classic. Here is what each man must do to win:

LAS VEGAS – About an hour before he was to fight what to that point was the most significant bout of his life, Kelly Pavlik was leaning back in a folding chair in his dressing room at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn.

His feet were perched on a chair in front of him when a couple of Top Rank employees walked into the room.

Pavlik's fight that night with power-punching Edison Miranda was critical for the company. A win by Pavlik would vault him into a title shot against middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, who was defending his belt in the main event against Cory Spinks.

A win also would also give the company another potential star to market. The stakes were high and the employees were a bundle of nerves.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Pavlik asked as he noticed the two nervously pacing the room.

What was wrong with them were the 24 knockouts among Miranda's 28 wins and the knowledge that one big right hand from the Colombian could crush the company's hopes of developing Pavlik into a

When Kyle Noke gets in the cage, he has the advantage of training in a zoo.

Scott Smith is one of the world's better mixed martial artists at 185 pounds and scored one of the most spectacular knockouts in the history of the UFC when he stopped close friend Pete Sell at The Ultimate Fighter 4 finale on Nov. 11, 2006.

But nothing Smith has done, or might do, figures to faze Noke, his opponent on Saturday night in a middleweight bout on an Elite XC show in Miami that will be televised on Showtime.

When you've battled massive crocodiles alongside the famed "Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin, a punch to the jaw, no matter how powerful, seems a little less frightening.

A lot of trash-talking fighters say they want to take one's head off, but the crocodiles who helped make Irwin a world-wide figure, can actually do it.

Noke, who is 14-3-1, realizes that no matter how much he accomplishes in MMA, he's almost certain to be known best for serving as Irwin's bodyguard. Irwin, who died in a tragic