Jermain Taylor taking no chances in Germany
by Scott Christ on Oct 8, 2009 11:32 AM EDT
in Boxing News Analysis
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According to Northwest Arkansas Online, former middleweight champ and Super Six World Boxing Classic participant Jermain Taylor will be taking zero risks when he's in Germany to fight Arthur Abraham on October 17. Taylor will be heading over soon.
Taylor's people sent an advance man to Germany to look for bugs and cameras in the gym where Taylor will prepare for his Oct. 17 super middleweight fight with unbeaten Arthur Abraham. Taylor, the former middleweight champion from Arkansas, will not eat in the restaurant at his hotel; he'll dine out, unannounced, or his chef will fix something.
The local bias for Taylor's record is also sort of amusing:
The favorite is Mikkel Kessler who has won 42 fights, but is best known for his only loss, a decision at the hands of unbeaten Joe Calzaghe in November 2007. Lately, Kessler has knocked out the "Who Dat" pair of Gusmyr Perdomo and Danilo Haussler.
Neither will be mistaken for Bernard Hopkins, Kelly Pavlik, or Winky Wright — all of whom are on Taylor's resume.
Taylor went 2-2-1 against those guys, and frankly there are plenty of people who will argue he deserved to go 0-5. But I'm glad the local media out there is happy to give Taylor some love again, because there was a time where it seemed like he was taking way too much guff from the hometown folks that used to be mad for him. In all of his losses, he's fought hard, and every one of them was a hell of a good fight. That's the real thing that gets ignored about Jermain, I think. It's easy to point out his flaws, and they're real, and I understand it, but still at the end of the day, he puts on good fights and clearly has no lack of guts. He didn't have to take an immediate rematch with Kelly Pavlik, but he did because he wanted to avenge his loss. He didn't have to fight in this tournament given where his career's at, but he looked at the upside of it, that if he had a great showing he's right back in the mix with the best in the world, instead of the downside, that if he does poorly it's all but over for him as a top contender. That's admirable, isn't it?
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I agree with the concluding point, though there’s also the least proven pair with ’0’s’ , Dirrell and Ward, for whom this is arguably a bigger risk. Jermain’s had big fights in the past, but that pair may struggle to get a big one in the future if they do badly.
I honestly think Jermain has a good shot against AA and overall bar Kessler. I saw all the good back and forth earlier and some elsewhere and I respect that, but I expect his conditioning to be better and for him to bring it against AA in a fight he knows he’s not going to get the benefit of a close decision. He doesn’t have a natural finishing/killer instinct, but I hope he finds enough to get it done. The food thing is on the line between prudence and paranoia, but I guess you can’t be too careful.
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
Taylor does make it hard to root against him these days. It wasn’t really his fault that HBO was jamming him down everyone’s throats during his middleweight reign.
The food thing comes off a little paranoid, but considering where he’s fighting it’s the least of his worries. He should be more worried about the ref deducting points for hitting Arthur in the face, and the judges taking away rounds for his trunks being too tight or whatever the hell they are scoring for over there.
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
I always liked Taylor.Outside the ring,I found him to be a devoted family man and an overall nice guy. I love rooting for him. As far as the paranoia..Ehh why take chances?? He knows where he is and how important this tournament is. This fight is gonna be worthwhile. Arthur Abraham is a good good fighter. Their styles will clash good. I take Taylor by UD.
Me too. As much as I’ve over-analyzed every flaw he’s shown since beating BHop, I’ve always remained a JT fan. He’s a class act and brave fighter, and he sure as hell isn’t going around trying to fluff up his record.
Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes
by Scott Christ on Oct 11, 2009 4:13 AM EDT up reply actions
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