ANATOMY OF A KNOCKOUT Joe Scalzo’s blogs from Atlantic City

11 p.m.SEmD Well, that didn’t take long.

Kelly Pavlik landed some big shots through the second and third rounds and patiently wore down Gary Lockett. After the third knockdown midway through the third round, the referee stopped it and Pavlik’s first title defense was easy and short.

Pavlik is a notoriously slow starter and the fighters spent the first minute of the first round feeling each other out. After that, Pavlik started establishing his jab, backing Lockett up. Lockett preferred to stay back, which is a questionable strategy considering his disadvantage in length and height.

Pavlik landed a nice couple of punches midway through the round, backing Lockett up at one point into the corner. First round goes to Pavlik.

After that, it was all Pavlik, knocking Lockett down twice in the second round, then finishing it in the third.

10:45 p.m. — Kelly Pavlik entered the ring to a huge chorus of cheers and chants of “Kelly, Kelly.” A waving American flag led him in.

A minute earlier, Lockett entered to boos. Surprise, surprise.

10:28 p.m. — Top Rank’s Juan Manuel Lopez scored a first round knockout of Daniel Ponce De Leon in the undercard junior featherweight bout, tagging him in the middle of the round, then ending it with a flurry in the corner just before the round ended.

It was expected to be a great bout, since both are brawlers with knockout power. It was not expected to be over this quickly.

By the end of it, De Leon was just swinging at air as Lopez connected on some crazy punches.

The theme of the night so far has been quick knockouts. I think it’s going to continue when Pavlik fights.

10:05 p.m. — Boardwalk Hall is about two-thirds full. The only big gaps are in the corners of the upper deck.

Pavlik is wearing light blue trunks with a Ghost logo and an American flag (featuring the insignias of the five branches of the military) on the front. The back will have an “Affliction” logo.

Joe Scalzo is a sports writer for The Vindicator and Vindy.com.