Jermain Taylor to Return in April, Probably in Little Rock

by Scott Christ on Jan 28, 2012 6:00 AM EST in Boxing News Analysis

Jermain Taylor will be back in the ring in April, says promoter Lou DiBella. (Photo by Tom Casino/Showtime)

Former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor returned to the ring on December 30 with a win over Jessie Nicklow on a "special" ShoBox, and now promoter Lou DiBella says that he'll keep the 33-year-old busy with a fight in April.

From ESPN.com:

"I think he needs a couple of steps up in competition before fighting again at the highest level," DiBella said. "If he can handle it, we'd like to get him to the point where by the fall he is ready for a big fight. I think he needs at least two more fights before that point. ... Then, if all goes well -- and remember, this whole comeback is on a fight-by-fight basis -- hopefully, he's ready for something big in the November or December time frame."

Taylor (29-4-1, 18 KO) is back in the ring, but DiBella is smart to play it safe here. There's certainly no guarantee that Taylor will ever be a top-flight middleweight again, and beating guys like Nicklow won't prove that he is. It's all a work in progress.

Taylor's April fight is likely to be in his hometown of Little Rock, Ark., which was the original plan for his December fight before it moved to California. Whether there are plans for TV or not isn't known, but Showtime is interested in staying involved in Taylor's career, according to Dan Rafael.

Most likely, you can expect a couple similar fights to what we saw in December -- guys who can't really challenge Taylor if he's truly "back," but could be a pain in the ass if he's having issues.

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Comments

Taylor is such a good fighter, and yet got iced so badly, that I have to wonder just what his “issues” are.

Does he get careless, or is it something more serious? I honestly don’t know.

by DrRck on Jan 28, 2012 9:26 AM EST reply actions

Taylor is (well, was, at least) a good fighter. He lost to other good fighters. Losing can be a side effect of taking tough fights.

But he has other issues. Never trained properly, by his own account, so he was often under-prepared, and he made a string of bad decisions about his coaching.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Jan 28, 2012 11:18 AM EST up reply actions

If by “side effect” you mean physical damage, then I don’t want to see him fight again.

If his issues have been limited, and I mean limited, to under preparation and less-then-adequate handling, then I wouldn’t mind seeing a few more years from him.

I was thinking about whether he has sustained some kind of lasting damage.

by DrRck on Jan 28, 2012 12:05 PM EST up reply actions