PRESS RELEASE: Middleweights take center stage for an exciting doubleheader when HBO World Championship Boxing, featuring world champion Jermain Taylor vs. Cory Spinks and Edison Miranda vs. Kelly Pavlik is seen live on May 19, 2007 at 10:15 p.m. (ET)/7:15 p.m. (PT) from the FedEx Forum in Memphis.  The team of Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Lennox Lewis will be ringside for the event, which will be presented in HDTV and in Spanish on HBO Latino.


In the main event, undefeated middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (26-0-1, 17 KOs) from Little Rock takes on Cory Spinks (36-3, 11KOs) of St. Louis in a scheduled 12-round face-off.  Taylor is making his fourth title defense and facing a champ or former champ for the fifth straight time.  Moving up to middleweight, Spinks is a former welterweight titleholder and current junior middleweight champ.  He continues in the family tradition of father Leon and uncle Michael, who were both heavyweight champions.

The opening contest is a hard-hitting 12-round showdown between top contenders competing for a title opportunity, with Edison Miranda (28-1, 24 KOs) from Carolinas, Puerto Rico battling Kelly Pavlik (30-0, 27 KOs) from Youngstown, Ohio.  Both middleweights are on the fast track to stardom, and the victor in this fight may be in line for a bout with the winner of the evening’s main event.