10.07.05 - By Jim Amato: Unbeaten Kelly Pavlik is now supposed to take on Columbia's Fulgencio Zuniga on July 30th. Zuniga sports a 17-1-1 record. he's a big hitter with 16 KO's, eight in the first round and five in the second round. In June of 2003, he met Daniel Santos for the W.B.O. light middleweight title and lost a twelve round decision.. In his last fight on April 8th of this year, Zuniga drew with Jose Luis Zartuche in an I.B.A. middleweight title contest.
It looks like Kelly may be meeting a live body this time. Although not his fault, the big fights have just not materialized for Kelly. Injuries, good competition not willing to meet him and of course Ike Quartey dropping out of their proposed bout have helped to stall Kelly's promising career. Hopefully a win over Zuniga will lead to matches with name opponents like Antwun Echols, Robert Allen or former champion William Joppy.
