Great match-up, not sure I've seen enough of either to make a clear judgement on it. Pavlik certainly has the tools to get the job done, and has the height and reach to get the victory. I'd go with Pavlik
Turpin was a little less skilled than John Duddy and extremely slow, though had a better equaliser. Pavlik TKO 3.
i don't get all the hype for Pavlik taylor was one of the worst middleweight champions of all-time so Kelly needs to do a bit more to impress.
That worst middleweight of all time beat Middleweight king Bernard Hopkins(who went on to beat tarver and winky), drew with winky, beat spinks and ouma. i would say thats rather impressive. I have been a huge pavilik fan since day 1, and I knew he would knockout taylor. pavilik is the next great middleweight IMO
Turpin is a great who would give any middleweight a tough go...Look at the record, he fought a lot of bigger fighters including light heavys...People say 'Yeah, but he lost to Olson...' Olson just happened to be a HOF...who also fought and beat light heavys...in their primes these two were forces who would give any middlweight a hard night....Robinson, Monzon,Hagler...they would not have won...but they would be in the fight. Olson takes a hit respect-wise, because I guess of the Robinson KO's...Prior to those two fights with Robinson, he fought The Ol' Mongoose....Name any middleweight who could survive three brutal fights like that...I don't see a middleweight champion taking on anything like that and coming out for the better...Can you say "Thrown to the wolves?" The best of Turpin is better than the best of Pavlik...So far anyway in my opinion...Turpin was better schooled, Pavlik brawls too much...but he is powerful, and handles adversity in the ring....that says alot.
Taylor looked poor in almost all of those fights especially spinks and ouma. Hopkins was at the end of the road as a middle and no longer able to fight for a full 12 rounds when he lost to Taylor.Moving up gave him a new lease of life for a few fights and Tarver's mediocrity helped as well.