We’re getting close to the start of Kelly Pavlik-Edison Miranda. At the moment, unbeaten welterweight Andre Berto is busy pounding Martinus Clay, who has a great name for boxing, but not the game to match.

INTROS:
There’s music in the air, so we’re about to get going here. Promoter Bob Arum is in the ring, but he’s not the one doing battle. Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Lennox Lewis are tuning up the pipes for the HBO broadcast. The TV people won’t want to be kept waiting.

Random thought while the music still plays 15 minutes later, but with no action: If Lennox Lewis stands directly in front of Jim Lampley, Lampley disappears. Lewis is a large — not fat by any means — man.

Despite much lower ticket prices than last year’s Jermain Taylor-Winky Wright fight, FedExForum isn’t exactly packed an hour before the main event. Lampley in his intro — he’s doing it about 10 feet away — called it a disappointing crowd so far.

Nobody wants to hear the problems of us ink-stained wretches — can you actually be ink-stained if you’re blogging? — but LET’S GO ALREADY. HBO is showing a feature on Miranda. Time’s a-wasting.

Best line of the night (while we’re waiting): After Brighton’s Ira Terry won a 6-round decision, he needed to wait nearly an hour before he could handle the mandatory urine test. Ron Higgins suggested a headline of “Terry goes wee wee wee all the way home.”

OK, recounting the Higgins line has spurred action. Edison Miranda enters the ring at 9:29 p.m. He’s wearing a robe touting slickcar.com.

Pavlik and his handlers, in gaudy gold shirts or robes, walk the aisle.We’re getting close. Pavlik’s robe says “Kelly THE GHOST Pavlik”. Can’t be a ghost in THAT outfit.

Michael Buffer’s doing the intros.

Pavlik comes in at 30-0. Miranda at 28-1.

ROUND ONE:
Pavlik was the aggressor throughout, but Miranda was quicker with his hands. Pavlik controlled the tempo and landed bigger punches, twice cornering Miranda to land telling blows. Miranda rallied in the closing seconds, but the rounds was Pavlik’s.

ROUND TWO:
Miranda seemed content the first two minutes to hang on the ropes as Pavlik bored in. But Miranda stood Pavlik up with some big right hands in the final minute and his flurries looked strong enough to win the round.

ROUND THREE:
Pavlik is still bothered by Miranda’s lead rights, but a late rally might have given him the round.

ROUND FOUR:
If you’re a fan of dancing and jabbing, this ain’t your fight. These guys are just laying into each other, at a pace that would seem to indicate 12 rounds is out of the question. Miranda will duck occasionally and block punches with his arms. Pavlik just keeps boring in. Lots of action in this round. Hard to judge, as both guys landed a lot of shots.

ROUND FIVE:
Miranda is warned a second time about punching south of the Mason Dixon line. Pavlik’s short, chopping punches aren’t slowing Miranda much so far. But he still can’t stop the right hand lead. It’s slickcar.com vs. slick trunks. Neither fighter has shown any signs of trouble, despite the barrage of punches. Miranda stunned Pavlik with a right and followed with two punches, but the round ended with Pavlik looking ok.

ROUND SIX:
The pace has slowed, and so have the fighters. Not as much leather in the air. In an otherwise non-descript round, Pavlik begins a barrage with a right hand and knocks Mianda down. Afer an eight-count, Miranda gets a break when his mouthpiece needs to be cleaned. Another quick knockdown follows, Miranda beats the count and the round ends. The fight may not be going much longer.

ROUND SEVEN: The replay of round 6 has the fans screaming. Miranda’s eyes are puffy and he’s fighting defensively. Seven straight punches turn Miranda into a defenseless mess, the fight is stopped and Pavlik dances across the ring with his arms raised at 1:54 of the seventh.

PAVLIK BY KNOCKOUT.

Pavlik is now the No. 1 ranked middleweight in the world and could be up next for the winner of Taylor-Spinks, which (shameless plug dept.) follows on the next blog.