Photo by: Adrian Hernandez

By: Joseph Herron

On Saturday, March 31st, "The Ghost" made an appearance at "The Illusions Theater of the Alamodome" in San Antonio, TX.

Former lineal Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik made short work of Aaron Jaco by brutally stopping the usual Light Heavyweight fighter in the second stanza of the scheduled ten round co-main event.

Pavlik came out pumping the left hand and dictated the action from the opening bell to the final blow that finished the out-gunned Floridian. Kelly Pavlik showed the thousands in attendance why he was once labeled as "must see TV" by the HBO brass several years ago.

The Youngstown, OH, native began the fight at a measured pace, but clearly had much more spring in his step; especially compared to his last performance in May of 2011, when he gutted out a very tough majority decision over Alfonso Lopez.

Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik looked sharp under the guiding hand of trainer Robert Garcia. He delivered compact, crisp shots to the body and head of the overmatched Aaron Jaco, which eventually floored the 35 year old fighter.

He cracked Jaco with a clean and powerful left hook, which caused Aaron to take a knee midway through the first stanza. The Florida native waited until referee Jon Schorle counted to eight before rising off of the canvas. Most ringside observers knew it was only a matter of time before Kelly Pavlik delivered another damaging blow.

Although he was fighting at a comfortable weight of 169 pounds, Kelly moved about the ring with a very young set of legs and appeared to be energetic and lively. He bounced out of his corner to begin the second round and immediately began trying to set up another left hook. The 6'2 ½" puncher started to feint with the right hand to maneuver his opponent into range for the left hook.

Thirty-five seconds into round number two, Pavlik delivered a brilliant shot which sent Jaco to the canvas for the final time. Although the brave Light Heavyweight combatant was up before the referee in charge reached ten, Aaron Jaco was on wobbly legs. After seeing the condition of the courageous fighter, the third man in the ring immediately called a halt to bout.

After the bout, Kelly Pavlik actually seemed pleased and genuinely excited to speak with the ringside media for the first time in a very long while.

"I felt great in there tonight," expounded the former lineal Middleweight Champ. "I had a lot of spring in my legs and I really had fun in there. I really worked on the left hook when training for this bout. He was consistently looking for the right hand and he left himself open for the left hook. I took advantage."

"Going into to this fight, I really felt fantastic. My new camp was great and the whole team did an amazing job preparing me for this fight. My conditioning coach, Cecilio Flores, and Robert Garcia...everyone did a great job and I haven't felt this good in a very long time...being able to focus on boxing and not really having to worry about making weight made a huge difference."

"As of this moment, I can honestly say that it's good to be back!!"