Jermain Taylor: not quick to do what everyone else tells him!

By William Dettloff

As I write this, there is some controversy around the identity of Jermain Taylor’s next opponent. Some say Kassim Ouma, others Winky Wright, and it’ll all be cleared up shortly, but in the meantime, it says something about Taylor that these are the two guys in the running.

Ouma is among the three or four best junior middleweights on the planet. For my money, he’s the best. Wright, of course, gave Taylor all kinds of trouble when they met for the world middleweight title in June. Plenty of people thought he won. (I did not.)

This is a hard business where guys get in, try to make as much money as they can as fast as they can, and then, with luck, get the hell out before they end up broken and useless. It isn’t basketball. The smart ones make some money then go home to their living rooms and live a nice life, and the record books and fans be damned. You can’t blame them for it.

That’s not Taylor.

Wright or Ouma. These are the guys he has picked. He didn’t have to go with either of them. We could right now be waiting for him to sign against Jose Luis Zertuche or Amin Asikainen or Daniel Santos. And who could have complained? The guy fought Bernard Hopkins twice, then Wright, and if you think that’s standard for the way new champions act, you haven’t been paying attention.

Most new champions, even the great ones, get a “gimme” in their first defense or two. Not Taylor. He’s one of those rare fighters who mean it when they say they want to face only the best and toughest guys out there. It makes you wonder why he was coddled and matched so carefully on the way up.

You remember how it was then: Alex Rios, Alex Bunema, Raul Marquez for cripes’ sake, a completely shot William Joppy. There were other young, strong middleweights he could have faced, and the closest he came was Daniel Edouard. If you didn’t know better, and most of us didn’t, you’d have thought they were hiding something about him.

Turns out they weren’t.

After Edouard came the close win over Hopkins in a fight everyone knew could have gone either way and none of us would have been surprised if Taylor had taken the win and gone on his way. He didn’t. He limped by with another squeaker over Hopkins, and if you’ve been around this business for any length of time, you knew the next one would be against a landscaper from Phoenix. Wrong again. It was Wright, one of the most respected prizefighters in the business. Poor Lou DiBella.

Now it’s Wright or Ouma. And Ouma, by the way, is considered the step-down fight. The easier one. Ask Sechew Powell or, better yet, Verno Phillips how easy Ouma is. I know he’s smaller than Taylor is and not a puncher. Makes no difference. He doesn’t have to hurt Taylor to beat him. He just has to outpunch him.

Taylor hasn’t won a fight outright since stopping Edouard. That was three fights ago. And he still refuses a gimme. Still wants the best guys out there. Still wants to prove himself. No soft touches. You have to respect him for that, especially in this business.

Some miscellaneous observations from the past week:

For what it’s worth, Shannon Briggs-Sergei Liakhovich is a hell of a lot more interesting than Shannon Briggs-Wladimir Klitschko. And so is Calvin Brock against Klitschko.

I don’t know of many guys in the heavyweight division more capable than Fres Oquendo of making Evander Holyfield look every second of his 44 years. Not that Oquendo’s anything great—he isn’t. But I see him giving Evander fits.

Geezer Alert: Those of you who fell in love with boxing during the Mike Tyson era (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and don’t care much for what came before may want to skip the next couple of paragraphs.

For everyone else, OLN’s broadcast of the second Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight as part of its Legends Of The Ring series, which is hosted pretty capably by Michael Buffer, by the way, was wonderful right off the bat for its inclusion of a beloved and lost tradition: the roll call of champions.

This is who was introduced and gathered in the ring before Ali-Frazier II: Floyd Patterson, Joey Giardello, Willie Pastrano, Rocky Graziano, Willie Pep, Sandy Saddler, Ken Norton, Emile Griffith, and George Foreman (who was the reigning heavyweight champion). What a moment. Pure magic. It seemed Patterson received the loudest ovation, followed by Graziano. The most boos? Foreman. My, how things have changed.

I hadn’t seen Ali-Frazier II, a hell of a good fight, in years. I scored it 6-5-1 in rounds for Ali. Sorry, Joe.

Speaking of things old and beloved, what the hell has happened to ESPN Classic? When did Juan Diaz vs. Billy Irwin become a “classic”? When did Cory Spinks-Larry Marks turn into Robinson-LaMotta? If the problem is that ESPN has exhausted its library, I have a suggestion: Go out and buy more fights. Turning on ESPN Classic and seeing Lawrence Clay-Bey against Charles Shufford, as I did last week, is just wrong.

My apologies to Fred Kesch, manger of Oleg Maskaev, whose name I got completely wrong in my piece on Maskaev’s win over Hasim Rahman, which appears here and in the December 2006 Ring Extra that goes on sale October 3.

Speaking of Maskaev, I’m not terribly surprised to see Kesch and Dennis Rappaport taking the easy road. Maskaev will face one Peter Okhello in Moscow, probably in December. Okhello has lost to Kali Meehan and Imamu Mayfield, among others, if you’re wondering. Reportedly, the plan is for Maskaev and Holyfield to cash in together down the road. ringmagazine.com

i respect him for beating hopkins which i wasnt too happy about but he proved he could beat him twice. hope he fights wright again

"Most new champions, even the great ones, get a “gimme” in their first defense or two. Not Taylor. He’s one of those rare fighters who mean it when they say they want to face only the best and toughest guys out there. It makes you wonder why he was coddled and matched so carefully on the way up."

I think most new champions actually beat a champion in the ring though, so I don't see it being that clear... If Jermain Taylor had KOed Hopkins or something then sure he could have a gimme, if he beat him decisevly in the rematch he could have as well, if he beat WRight at all, then same thing he could take an easy fight... The fact is he still needs a win that's going to make people consider him a real champion.. At least imo. Besides, Kassim Ouma isn't some Bhop or Wright calibre fighter.. He's exciting and I think he'll give Taylor fights, but it's still meant to be an easy, confidence booster for Taylor.. So the whole article is basically BS as far as Im concerned..

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Originally Posted by p4pking

"Most new champions, even the great ones, get a “gimme” in their first defense or two. Not Taylor. He’s one of those rare fighters who mean it when they say they want to face only the best and toughest guys out there. It makes you wonder why he was coddled and matched so carefully on the way up."

I think most new champions actually beat a champion in the ring though, so I don't see it being that clear... If Jermain Taylor had KOed Hopkins or something then sure he could have a gimme, if he beat him decisevly in the rematch he could have as well, if he beat WRight at all, then same thing he could take an easy fight... The fact is he still needs a win that's going to make people consider him a real champion.. At least imo. Besides, Kassim Ouma isn't some Bhop or Wright calibre fighter.. He's exciting and I think he'll give Taylor fights, but it's still meant to be an easy, confidence booster for Taylor.. So the whole article is basically BS as far as Im concerned..

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:coolclick:

Whilst I disagree with you I appreciate your ability to turn a positive into a negative in one simple paragraph :P

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Originally Posted by p4pking

"Most new champions, even the great ones, get a “gimme” in their first defense or two. Not Taylor. He’s one of those rare fighters who mean it when they say they want to face only the best and toughest guys out there. It makes you wonder why he was coddled and matched so carefully on the way up."

I think most new champions actually beat a champion in the ring though, so I don't see it being that clear... If Jermain Taylor had KOed Hopkins or something then sure he could have a gimme, if he beat him decisevly in the rematch he could have as well, if he beat WRight at all, then same thing he could take an easy fight... The fact is he still needs a win that's going to make people consider him a real champion.. At least imo. Besides, Kassim Ouma isn't some Bhop or Wright calibre fighter.. He's exciting and I think he'll give Taylor fights, but it's still meant to be an easy, confidence booster for Taylor.. So the whole article is basically BS as far as Im concerned..

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Well Taylor said that he wanted a KO. And we all know he nees to fight junior middleweights to do that ;D

Jermain Taylor: not quick to do what everyone else tells him?

Okay.

Yeah.

Well...Dibella's whipping bwoy would agree with that statement...errrrrrrrrr...no he wouldn't...because his name's Jermain Taylor.

I liked Jermain a lot better before Lou started talking out of Taylor's ass.

Taylor lost the first fight to Hopkins. He lost to Wright. He'll beat Ouma...Ouma's smaller & likes to battle too much.

I like Taylor...but I want him to get a bit more ground under his feet before he tries climbing any more mountains & reaches the top by elevator.

In another thread, Taylor was saying how he wants no other fighter next except for Wright. We all respected him for that, & so did I. Now Ouma is fighting Taylor. DiBella is pulling the strings. You gon tell me Taylor backed out cos he didn't wanna agree to Wright's 55%/45%? If you wanna fight somebody, money isn't gon matter much. Shyt Taylor already got $$$.

My respect for Taylor goes back to what is was before, which is not much.

Like I said, it was just talk and that Ouma and Taylor would fight no matter what. But the promoter and Jermain as one aren't the fight happening.

Jermain wants Wright & either way he will get Wright

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Originally Posted by wacko3205

I like Taylor...but I want him to get a bit more ground under his feet before he tries climbing any more mountains & reaches the top by elevator.

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:biglaugh:

At least he is having a go at these guys while they are still in their prime and not waiting for the slide ;)

I agree, taylor only wants the best. To all who think JT isnt the champ....who has the belts? Ask yourself this question, find the answer and then you can come back here and say champ when referring to JT. Everyone has opinions, everyone sees a situation just a little different than anyone else. I saw JT beat bhop, then defend his belt against him and wright. Only thing wright did was "HEAD BUTT" JT just like bhop did because they knew they needed some serious cheating to give them even a slim chance of beating JT which, Oh by the way, didnt happen folks. Your champion is Jermaine "bad intentions" Taylor, whether you acknowlegde him as champ or not. Really doesnt matter what his critics say because their opinions are just like a big old turd, WORTHLESS!

JMan, are you Jermain Taylor's mom/wife?

JT only "says" he wants to fight the best but Dibella is making sure otherwise ;) So that the fans will say "well dibella is making this happen but at least JT wanted to fight someone better." ::**

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Originally Posted by Starr

JT only "says" he wants to fight the best but Dibella is making sure otherwise ;) So that the fans will say "well dibella is making this happen but at least JT wanted to fight someone better." ::**

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still bitter cause jt whipped up on your boy hopkins?

now youre trying to pull the arum/margarito card on dibella and jermain

let it go, and spare yourself some foolishness (and please spare me from your usual response of ;) ;) ;D >:mad :o 8) :P :-[ :lickish: :laugh: :'( :-* :-X :-[ ::** :o >:mad ;D ;) :) O0)

jt got gift decision in his first fight with B-HOP,I don't know which fight you was watching frozensolid.Second fight was much closer could of gone eather way and he lost also to Winky.

Silent Killer brings up a great point. JT could have easily lost all three matches. I don't see how he is the man? He fought well against Wright and BHOP. But did he show his supremacy?? An emphatic No. He is blessed with supreme connections. I will grant JT that.

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Originally Posted by boozeboxer

Silent Killer brings up a great point. JT could have easily lost all three matches. I don't see how he is the man? He fought well against Wright and BHOP. But did he show his supremacy?? An emphatic No. He is blessed with supreme connections. I will grant JT that.

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WIN, LOSE, or DRAW they were all extremly close matches against the best boxing has to offer! If anything he has proven he is just as good as them... and you try and convince anyone that to be as good as Winky Wright or Bernard Hopkins is a bad thing. ;D

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Originally Posted by ds91

i respect him for beating hopkins which i wasnt too happy about but he proved he could beat him twice. hope he fights wright again

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The Wright fight would put him solidly as the elite in the 160 division....providing he beats Winky....IMO I think Winky won....

Okay Hairdoo, to almost be as good as Wright and Hopkins is a noteable feat for sure. Is it good enough to talk about yourself in third person?? Does it grant you the right to be a moron?? Of course not. We are all in agreement here.

Everybody knows JT lost to Hopkins. It's an agreement most people already accept. Just like De La Hoya beat Trinidad. The record books don't mean a thing cause people have eyes and television sets!

JT is just lucky to have Poppa Dibella and HBO cradling his not-so-incredible skills. Had the decision been given to Hopkins like it should have, JT would have just faded into obscurity like a handful of boxers that are good, but could not beat the reigning champ.

He lost to Winky as well, and I won't even laugh my a** off if he loses and goes back to the middle of nowhere... I mean Arkansas.

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Originally Posted by THE Bigragu

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Originally Posted by ds91

i respect him for beating hopkins which i wasnt too happy about but he proved he could beat him twice. hope he fights wright again

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The Wright fight would put him solidly as the elite in the 160 division....providing he beats Winky....IMO I think Winky won....

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as do I