Youngstown, OH (My Sportsbook) - Kelly Pavlik successfully defended his WBC and WBO middleweight titles with a stoppage of Mexico's Marco Antonio Rubio.

The bout, staged in Pavlik's (35-1, 31 KOs) hometown, was stopped after nine rounds when Rubio (43-5-1) was no longer able to continue.

Pavlik's technical knockout win came nearly four months after he lost a 12- round unanimous decision to Bernard Hopkins in a non-title bout.

Rubio was clearly at a disadvantage as chants of "Kelly, Kelly!" revved up the hometown crowd, and Pavlik capitalized with good connections through the first five rounds.

The only highlight for Rubio came just before the bell at the conclusion of the sixth round, but Pavlik rocked his opponent throughout the eighth. In the last minute, a solid right landed by Pavlik put Rubio against the ropes and then the champion used the challenger as a punching bag.

The ninth brought more punishment for Rubio, whose corner then decided the fight couldn't go on.

Pavlik threw 695 punches, connecting on 146 of them, while Rubio threw 351 and hit on just 82 for the bout.