ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — In just more than a year, Kelly Pavlik has gone from relative unknown to chairman of the boardwalk and middleweight king.

Pavlik got back on the knockout path tonight, stopping unheralded Welshman Gary Lockett with a punishing assault in the third round of his first title defense before a raucous crowd at Boardwalk Hall.

Nearly everyone considered Lockett a mere tuneup for the hard-punching Pavlik, who captured the WBC and WBO versions of the middleweight championship when he stopped previously unbeaten Jermain Taylor in the same building last September.

Lockett did little to prove the contrary.

Coming off a 12-round decision of Taylor in a catch-weight rematch, the first time Pavlik had failed to stop an opponent in 10 fights, the humble hero of Youngstown, Ohio, stunned Lockett in the opening round, dropped him to a knee twice in the second and by the third round Lockett's corner had thrown in the towel.