By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC/WBO Kelly Pavlik (39-2, 34 KO’s) will be facing super middleweight prospect Will Rosinsky (16-1, 9 KO’s) in a 10 round bout to replace the Brandon Rios vs. Maurcio Herrera fight on July 7th at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California. Rios injured his left arm and had to pull out of the Herrera fight. The headliner on the card will be WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire facing IBF champion Jeffrey Mathebula.

Pavlik, #8 WBO, #8 IBF, #9 WBA, recently defeated Scott Sigmon in an unimpressive 7th round TKO win last Friday night in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pavlik, 30, said after the fight that he wanted one more tune-up bout before he goes after he big names in the division, preferably a title shot or a bout against someone like former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute.

Rosinsky, 27, is a decent fighter. He doesn’t have much hand speed or power, and will no doubt get destroyed by Pavlik, but he’s definitely a step up from Pavlik’s last two opponents Aaron Jaco and Scott Sigmon. Rosinsky defeated Aaron Pryor Jr. by an 8 round unanimous decision last Thursday night in New York.

Rosinsky looked good against an opponent with little power to speak of. It’s doubtful that Rosinsky will look good against Pavlik. Rosinsky was soundly beaten by super middleweight contender Edwin Rodriguez in a 10 round unanimous decision loss in October of last year when Rosinsky tried to step up the level of competition and was smacked back down. Against Pavlik, you can expect a similar result, if not worse. Rosinsky would appear to be made to order for Pavlik.

Pavlik didn’t look any better in the Sigmon fight than he did in losing to Bernard Hopkins and Sergio Martinez. He looked like the same slow plodder that he’s always been, and it’s difficult to imagine he’ll be able to improve enough to compete against the top fighters in the super middleweight division.