Are people giving Taylor too much flack?

[Kev]

I just watched Taylor-Hopkins 2, and I felt it was a draw, but Taylor looked pretty impressive against Hopkins. Then I watched him against Wright and even though he lost IMO I felt he gave a good showing against an amazing southpaw. The only bad fight I saw was against Ouma who he dominated for a lot of the fight. I would say the Spinks fight was a bad fight, but Taylor tried to box a guy who was a lot faster and an incredible boxer when its comes to technical evaluation. I would like to see Pavlik catch Spinks in a ring. I am not saying Taylor will win, but I think that he should be the favorite to win. He is faster, physically stronger IMO, and more skilled than Pavlik. His power is underrated, he has great speed for a middleweight and he is fighting a orthodox fighter for the first time since Hopkins which means he will be able to use his best punch, the jab, again. I think people are really discounting Taylor's athleticism here which is vastly superior to that of Pavlik. I mean Miranda was hitting Pavlik, and Miranda has some of the slowest punches I've seen at that level. If Taylor can relax, and use lateral movement along with keeping his hands up I can't see him losing, but I don't think he will do all that which makes this an interesting fight.

Taylor did not look that impressive against Hopkins was hardly throwing any punches i thought Hopkins won the rematch and i also thought Wright won against Taylor and Spinks who had never fought at Middleweight and people were calling it a joke fight arguably beat Taylor in very highly disputed decision im sorry but i don't like it when fighters keep relying on the judges Taylor only just does enough to win and in my eyes he should have atleast 2 losses on his record but really and truthfully he could have been 0-4 any other night with different judges.


I mean Miranda was hitting Pavlik, and Miranda has some of the slowest punches I've seen at that level. If Taylor can relax, and use lateral movement along with keeping his hands up I can't see him losing, but I don't think he will do all that which makes this an interesting fight.

Well when you have come forward style like Pavlik of course your going to get hit but he still beat Miranda from pillar to post and was impressive doing it alot of people thought Miranda would beat Taylor believe it or not or atleast give him very tough fight.

Taylor doesn't have anywhere near the power Pavlik has and Pavlik is massive Middleweight and will pressure Taylor constantly now i know your going to comeback and say Winky pressured Taylor but difference is Pavlik hits alot harder than Winky and is bigger than Winky yes i know Winky is southpaw and is better fighter than Pavlik technically but i still think Pavlik will get to Taylor and i don't see Taylor stopping Pavlik from getting inside with his punches.

In the end im not writing off Taylor but i still think Pavlik will win and i hope he does so we can finally see some excitement back in Middleweight division its been pretty boring for quite a while with Hopkins as champion and now Taylor.

How did Taylor not look impressive against Hopkins? Most people thought he was going to get owned in both fights, and he held his own. Hopkins had a hard time finding him for most of both fights. Also nobody had really given Hopkins a really difficult fight in a long time. Also after that Hopkins looked good against both Wright and Tarver though I feel the Wright fight was very even.

As for against Spinks I personally had Spinks winning the fight, but like I said IMO Spinks-Pavlik is a heavily 1 one sided UD for Spinks.

How did Taylor not look impressive against Hopkins? Most people thought he was going to get owned in both fights, and he held his own. Hopkins had a hard time finding him for most of both fights. Also nobody had really given Hopkins a really difficult fight in a long time. Also after that Hopkins looked good against both Wright and Tarver though I feel the Wright fight was very even.

Well its quite easy to win rounds win your opponent isn't fighting not taking anything away from Taylor but come on Hopkins wasn't doing anything just look at the punchstats and how many punches Hopkins was throwing and landing it was a joke landing 8 punches a round on average and less in some rounds Hopkins just wern't doing anything in early rounds nothing at all he only started to fight in later rounds in both fights and he won those rounds clearly he waited too long had he done more in early going he would of won both fights.


As for against Spinks I personally had Spinks winning the fight, but like I said IMO Spinks-Pavlik is a heavily 1 one sided UD for Spinks

Why's that ?? Mayorga who isn't a good fighter technically and throws wide punches and quite alot of people thought Mayorga got robbed vs Spinks in there fight i don't see how you think Spinks would win easy ud considering Pavlik is much bigger and stronger and is certainly a better fighter than Mayorga.

Let me throw my pennies in here. Regarding the Hopkins fights I actually felt Taylor did enough to win both fights, for me Hopkins started to come on far too late in the fights to be the winner. Taylor looked tentative and gassed at the end of the first fight but he had put the rounds in the bank in my opinion, just like Spinks had done with Karmazin.

I actually believe though that Bernard lost those fights rather Taylor won. Even Emmanunel himself has conceded in interviews that Bernard is a better fighter than Jermain but he just fought too cautiously and paid the price.

Since then though Taylor hasn't impressed me much if at all. Against a Winky Wright who was willing to stand in front and trade Taylor was at his most explosive and punded Winky all night long. However Winky, a much smaller and much older man pounded right back at him and (should have) beat Taylor in a straight shootout. Most felt Winky won the fight and certainly if he hadn't have eased off the gas peddle in the last round he would have. Taylor's eye was a swollen mess and he hardly looked durable did. Smaller and supposedly lesser fighters than Taylor, i.e Soliman, Quartey etc traded with Winky and didn't get as hurt as Taylor did which makes me think for his size Taylor isn't particularly strong or durable.

His fight with Ouma started pretty impressively. He effectively nullified Ouma's punchout by half as Ouma was fearful to come in and throw his usual 100+ punches a round. By the final third of the fight though I felt it was actually looking embarrassing for Taylor. Ouma had clearly decided Taylor couldn't hurt him and was walking through him pretty much. Taylor said himself he really gassed out in that fight and yet it wasn't even a particularly hard paced fight.

As for the Spinks fight, that was just terrible plain and simple. I actually think Spinks has subsequently been slightly overrated off the back of that performance. No matter how good defensively he is, no matter how elusive he is, at the end of the day he's a welterweight with a known suspect chin and stamina issues.

Taylor should have blown him out of there, just constantly walking forward and throwing punches whether they landed or not. Zab Judah showed basically in both fights how to handle Spinks. He started slow in the first fight and a flash knockdown ultimately put him too far behind but he still had Corey out on his feet in the final round and without a shadow of a doubt had that been a 15 round round fight Spinks would have been KO'd.

In the rematch Judah was more aggressive from the outset and consequently beat the shat out of Spinks.

Furthermore Spinks hardly looked impressive in winning his 154lb title against Roman Karmazin who even without throwing anything had Spinks out on his feet over the last couple rounds.

And then look at Corey's title defense, he fought an ancient has been in Rodney Jones in a fight that Showtime didn't even televise.

He's a very good welterweight fighter, although I'd fancy the likes of Mayweather, Williams, Cotto and Mosely to beat him but at middleweight he should have been completely out of his depth.

To the guy who said Spinks would easiliy UD Pavlik, I completely disagree. Pavlik would come looking for Spinks, not hold back like Taylor did and have far too much power for. KO inside 6 rounds imo.

[BIG H]

Regarding the Hopkins fights I actually felt Taylor did enough to win both fights



Me too mate - 115-113 both times

[Kev]

Regarding the Hopkins fights I actually felt Taylor did enough to win both fights



Me too mate - 115-113 both times

Wow I've finally met the only other guy who agrees me with me.

We are a rare breed brother

[El Gamo]

I just watched Taylor-Hopkins 2, and I felt it was a draw, but Taylor looked pretty impressive against Hopkins. Then I watched him against Wright and even though he lost IMO I felt he gave a good showing against an amazing southpaw. The only bad fight I saw was against Ouma who he dominated for a lot of the fight. I would say the Spinks fight was a bad fight, but Taylor tried to box a guy who was a lot faster and an incredible boxer when its comes to technical evaluation. I would like to see Pavlik catch Spinks in a ring. I am not saying Taylor will win, but I think that he should be the favorite to win. He is faster, physically stronger IMO, and more skilled than Pavlik. His power is underrated, he has great speed for a middleweight and he is fighting a orthodox fighter for the first time since Hopkins which means he will be able to use his best punch, the jab, again. I think people are really discounting Taylor's athleticism here which is vastly superior to that of Pavlik. I mean Miranda was hitting Pavlik, and Miranda has some of the slowest punches I've seen at that level. If Taylor can relax, and use lateral movement along with keeping his hands up I can't see him losing, but I don't think he will do all that which makes this an interesting fight.

Taylor did not look that impressive against Hopkins was hardly throwing any punches i thought Hopkins won the rematch and i also thought Wright won against Taylor and Spinks who had never fought at Middleweight and people were calling it a joke fight arguably beat Taylor in very highly disputed decision im sorry but i don't like it when fighters keep relying on the judges Taylor only just does enough to win and in my eyes he should have atleast 2 losses on his record but really and truthfully he could have been 0-4 any other night with different judges.


I mean Miranda was hitting Pavlik, and Miranda has some of the slowest punches I've seen at that level. If Taylor can relax, and use lateral movement along with keeping his hands up I can't see him losing, but I don't think he will do all that which makes this an interesting fight.

Well when you have come forward style like Pavlik of course your going to get hit but he still beat Miranda from pillar to post and was impressive doing it alot of people thought Miranda would beat Taylor believe it or not or atleast give him very tough fight.

Taylor doesn't have anywhere near the power Pavlik has and Pavlik is massive Middleweight and will pressure Taylor constantly now i know your going to comeback and say Winky pressured Taylor but difference is Pavlik hits alot harder than Winky and is bigger than Winky yes i know Winky is southpaw and is better fighter than Pavlik technically but i still think Pavlik will get to Taylor and i don't see Taylor stopping Pavlik from getting inside with his punches.

In the end im not writing off Taylor but i still think Pavlik will win and i hope he does so we can finally see some excitement back in Middleweight division its been pretty boring for quite a while with Hopkins as champion and now Taylor.

How did Taylor not look impressive against Hopkins? Most people thought he was going to get owned in both fights, and he held his own. Hopkins had a hard time finding him for most of both fights. Also nobody had really given Hopkins a really difficult fight in a long time. Also after that Hopkins looked good against both Wright and Tarver though I feel the Wright fight was very even.

As for against Spinks I personally had Spinks winning the fight, but like I said IMO Spinks-Pavlik is a heavily 1 one sided UD for Spinks.

How did Taylor not look impressive against Hopkins? Most people thought he was going to get owned in both fights, and he held his own. Hopkins had a hard time finding him for most of both fights. Also nobody had really given Hopkins a really difficult fight in a long time. Also after that Hopkins looked good against both Wright and Tarver though I feel the Wright fight was very even.

Well its quite easy to win rounds win your opponent isn't fighting not taking anything away from Taylor but come on Hopkins wasn't doing anything just look at the punchstats and how many punches Hopkins was throwing and landing it was a joke landing 8 punches a round on average and less in some rounds Hopkins just wern't doing anything in early rounds nothing at all he only started to fight in later rounds in both fights and he won those rounds clearly he waited too long had he done more in early going he would of won both fights.


As for against Spinks I personally had Spinks winning the fight, but like I said IMO Spinks-Pavlik is a heavily 1 one sided UD for Spinks

Why's that ?? Mayorga who isn't a good fighter technically and throws wide punches and quite alot of people thought Mayorga got robbed vs Spinks in there fight i don't see how you think Spinks would win easy ud considering Pavlik is much bigger and stronger and is certainly a better fighter than Mayorga.

Let me throw my pennies in here. Regarding the Hopkins fights I actually felt Taylor did enough to win both fights, for me Hopkins started to come on far too late in the fights to be the winner. Taylor looked tentative and gassed at the end of the first fight but he had put the rounds in the bank in my opinion, just like Spinks had done with Karmazin.

I actually believe though that Bernard lost those fights rather Taylor won. Even Emmanunel himself has conceded in interviews that Bernard is a better fighter than Jermain but he just fought too cautiously and paid the price.

Since then though Taylor hasn't impressed me much if at all. Against a Winky Wright who was willing to stand in front and trade Taylor was at his most explosive and punded Winky all night long. However Winky, a much smaller and much older man pounded right back at him and (should have) beat Taylor in a straight shootout. Most felt Winky won the fight and certainly if he hadn't have eased off the gas peddle in the last round he would have. Taylor's eye was a swollen mess and he hardly looked durable did. Smaller and supposedly lesser fighters than Taylor, i.e Soliman, Quartey etc traded with Winky and didn't get as hurt as Taylor did which makes me think for his size Taylor isn't particularly strong or durable.

His fight with Ouma started pretty impressively. He effectively nullified Ouma's punchout by half as Ouma was fearful to come in and throw his usual 100+ punches a round. By the final third of the fight though I felt it was actually looking embarrassing for Taylor. Ouma had clearly decided Taylor couldn't hurt him and was walking through him pretty much. Taylor said himself he really gassed out in that fight and yet it wasn't even a particularly hard paced fight.

As for the Spinks fight, that was just terrible plain and simple. I actually think Spinks has subsequently been slightly overrated off the back of that performance. No matter how good defensively he is, no matter how elusive he is, at the end of the day he's a welterweight with a known suspect chin and stamina issues.

Taylor should have blown him out of there, just constantly walking forward and throwing punches whether they landed or not. Zab Judah showed basically in both fights how to handle Spinks. He started slow in the first fight and a flash knockdown ultimately put him too far behind but he still had Corey out on his feet in the final round and without a shadow of a doubt had that been a 15 round round fight Spinks would have been KO'd.

In the rematch Judah was more aggressive from the outset and consequently beat the shat out of Spinks.

Furthermore Spinks hardly looked impressive in winning his 154lb title against Roman Karmazin who even without throwing anything had Spinks out on his feet over the last couple rounds.

And then look at Corey's title defense, he fought an ancient has been in Rodney Jones in a fight that Showtime didn't even televise.

He's a very good welterweight fighter, although I'd fancy the likes of Mayweather, Williams, Cotto and Mosely to beat him but at middleweight he should have been completely out of his depth.

To the guy who said Spinks would easiliy UD Pavlik, I completely disagree. Pavlik would come looking for Spinks, not hold back like Taylor did and have far too much power for. KO inside 6 rounds imo.

I usually totally and utterly disagree with you but that is 1 dam fine post Baggins. I agreed with everything you wrote.Word for word. CC in24. And as for Spinks beating Pavlikmthat is ridiculous. Kelly would win the rounds on activity alone,his stamina is better,he's bigger,stronger and far more powerful. Kelly would knock him out.

[BIG H]

Regarding the Hopkins fights I actually felt Taylor did enough to win both fights



Me too mate - 115-113 both times

Wow I've finally met the only other guy who agrees me with me.

We are a rare breed brother

I thought both fight's were sh1t and they both fought like girls, but I think Taylor just about one more rounds. People think Hopkins won the fight becuase the rounds that he won, he won very convincingly (well atleast the last 3 rounds of the 1st fight) whereas Taylor's rounds were not that impressive, just stolen.

The thing is with the 10 point must system, it doesn't matter if Taylor didn't land a punch in 5 of the rounds as longs as he landed a few more in 7 of the rounds he wins.

Crude eample, but you get my drift

[Kev]

I just watched Taylor-Hopkins 2, and I felt it was a draw, but Taylor looked pretty impressive against Hopkins. Then I watched him against Wright and even though he lost IMO I felt he gave a good showing against an amazing southpaw. The only bad fight I saw was against Ouma who he dominated for a lot of the fight. I would say the Spinks fight was a bad fight, but Taylor tried to box a guy who was a lot faster and an incredible boxer when its comes to technical evaluation. I would like to see Pavlik catch Spinks in a ring. I am not saying Taylor will win, but I think that he should be the favorite to win. He is faster, physically stronger IMO, and more skilled than Pavlik. His power is underrated, he has great speed for a middleweight and he is fighting a orthodox fighter for the first time since Hopkins which means he will be able to use his best punch, the jab, again. I think people are really discounting Taylor's athleticism here which is vastly superior to that of Pavlik. I mean Miranda was hitting Pavlik, and Miranda has some of the slowest punches I've seen at that level. If Taylor can relax, and use lateral movement along with keeping his hands up I can't see him losing, but I don't think he will do all that which makes this an interesting fight.

Taylor did not look that impressive against Hopkins was hardly throwing any punches i thought Hopkins won the rematch and i also thought Wright won against Taylor and Spinks who had never fought at Middleweight and people were calling it a joke fight arguably beat Taylor in very highly disputed decision im sorry but i don't like it when fighters keep relying on the judges Taylor only just does enough to win and in my eyes he should have atleast 2 losses on his record but really and truthfully he could have been 0-4 any other night with different judges.


I mean Miranda was hitting Pavlik, and Miranda has some of the slowest punches I've seen at that level. If Taylor can relax, and use lateral movement along with keeping his hands up I can't see him losing, but I don't think he will do all that which makes this an interesting fight.

Well when you have come forward style like Pavlik of course your going to get hit but he still beat Miranda from pillar to post and was impressive doing it alot of people thought Miranda would beat Taylor believe it or not or atleast give him very tough fight.

Taylor doesn't have anywhere near the power Pavlik has and Pavlik is massive Middleweight and will pressure Taylor constantly now i know your going to comeback and say Winky pressured Taylor but difference is Pavlik hits alot harder than Winky and is bigger than Winky yes i know Winky is southpaw and is better fighter than Pavlik technically but i still think Pavlik will get to Taylor and i don't see Taylor stopping Pavlik from getting inside with his punches.

In the end im not writing off Taylor but i still think Pavlik will win and i hope he does so we can finally see some excitement back in Middleweight division its been pretty boring for quite a while with Hopkins as champion and now Taylor.

How did Taylor not look impressive against Hopkins? Most people thought he was going to get owned in both fights, and he held his own. Hopkins had a hard time finding him for most of both fights. Also nobody had really given Hopkins a really difficult fight in a long time. Also after that Hopkins looked good against both Wright and Tarver though I feel the Wright fight was very even.

As for against Spinks I personally had Spinks winning the fight, but like I said IMO Spinks-Pavlik is a heavily 1 one sided UD for Spinks.

How did Taylor not look impressive against Hopkins? Most people thought he was going to get owned in both fights, and he held his own. Hopkins had a hard time finding him for most of both fights. Also nobody had really given Hopkins a really difficult fight in a long time. Also after that Hopkins looked good against both Wright and Tarver though I feel the Wright fight was very even.

Well its quite easy to win rounds win your opponent isn't fighting not taking anything away from Taylor but come on Hopkins wasn't doing anything just look at the punchstats and how many punches Hopkins was throwing and landing it was a joke landing 8 punches a round on average and less in some rounds Hopkins just wern't doing anything in early rounds nothing at all he only started to fight in later rounds in both fights and he won those rounds clearly he waited too long had he done more in early going he would of won both fights.


As for against Spinks I personally had Spinks winning the fight, but like I said IMO Spinks-Pavlik is a heavily 1 one sided UD for Spinks

Why's that ?? Mayorga who isn't a good fighter technically and throws wide punches and quite alot of people thought Mayorga got robbed vs Spinks in there fight i don't see how you think Spinks would win easy ud considering Pavlik is much bigger and stronger and is certainly a better fighter than Mayorga.

Let me throw my pennies in here. Regarding the Hopkins fights I actually felt Taylor did enough to win both fights, for me Hopkins started to come on far too late in the fights to be the winner. Taylor looked tentative and gassed at the end of the first fight but he had put the rounds in the bank in my opinion, just like Spinks had done with Karmazin.

I actually believe though that Bernard lost those fights rather Taylor won. Even Emmanunel himself has conceded in interviews that Bernard is a better fighter than Jermain but he just fought too cautiously and paid the price.

Since then though Taylor hasn't impressed me much if at all. Against a Winky Wright who was willing to stand in front and trade Taylor was at his most explosive and punded Winky all night long. However Winky, a much smaller and much older man pounded right back at him and (should have) beat Taylor in a straight shootout. Most felt Winky won the fight and certainly if he hadn't have eased off the gas peddle in the last round he would have. Taylor's eye was a swollen mess and he hardly looked durable did. Smaller and supposedly lesser fighters than Taylor, i.e Soliman, Quartey etc traded with Winky and didn't get as hurt as Taylor did which makes me think for his size Taylor isn't particularly strong or durable.

His fight with Ouma started pretty impressively. He effectively nullified Ouma's punchout by half as Ouma was fearful to come in and throw his usual 100+ punches a round. By the final third of the fight though I felt it was actually looking embarrassing for Taylor. Ouma had clearly decided Taylor couldn't hurt him and was walking through him pretty much. Taylor said himself he really gassed out in that fight and yet it wasn't even a particularly hard paced fight.

As for the Spinks fight, that was just terrible plain and simple. I actually think Spinks has subsequently been slightly overrated off the back of that performance. No matter how good defensively he is, no matter how elusive he is, at the end of the day he's a welterweight with a known suspect chin and stamina issues.

Taylor should have blown him out of there, just constantly walking forward and throwing punches whether they landed or not. Zab Judah showed basically in both fights how to handle Spinks. He started slow in the first fight and a flash knockdown ultimately put him too far behind but he still had Corey out on his feet in the final round and without a shadow of a doubt had that been a 15 round round fight Spinks would have been KO'd.

In the rematch Judah was more aggressive from the outset and consequently beat the shat out of Spinks.

Furthermore Spinks hardly looked impressive in winning his 154lb title against Roman Karmazin who even without throwing anything had Spinks out on his feet over the last couple rounds.

And then look at Corey's title defense, he fought an ancient has been in Rodney Jones in a fight that Showtime didn't even televise.

He's a very good welterweight fighter, although I'd fancy the likes of Mayweather, Williams, Cotto and Mosely to beat him but at middleweight he should have been completely out of his depth.

To the guy who said Spinks would easiliy UD Pavlik, I completely disagree. Pavlik would come looking for Spinks, not hold back like Taylor did and have far too much power for. KO inside 6 rounds imo.

I usually totally and utterly disagree with you but that is 1 dam fine post Baggins. I agreed with everything you wrote.Word for word. CC in24. And as for Spinks beating Pavlikmthat is ridiculous. Kelly would win the rounds on activity alone,his stamina is better,he's bigger,stronger and far more powerful. Kelly would knock him out.

Wow my little poetry loving slightly effeminate friend I'm staggered. That I could write around 5 whole paragraphs and not have you disagree with any of it has to be a first in our time here. It's probably because the subject wasn't little child men but still impressive.

Just for the record though it's actually me that disagrees with you

[Kev]

Regarding the Hopkins fights I actually felt Taylor did enough to win both fights



Me too mate - 115-113 both times

Wow I've finally met the only other guy who agrees me with me.

We are a rare breed brother

I thought both fight's were sh1t and they both fought like girls, but I think Taylor just about one more rounds. People think Hopkins won the fight becuase the rounds that he won, he won very convincingly (well atleast the last 3 rounds of the 1st fight) whereas Taylor's rounds were not that impressive, just stolen.

The thing is with the 10 point must system, it doesn't matter if Taylor didn't land a punch in 5 of the rounds as longs as he landed a few more in 7 of the rounds he wins.

Crude eample, but you get my drift

that's exactly how I saw it. In a way they both deserved to lose and the title remain vacant.

[Jody Lane]

Taylor's going to shut everybody up when he stops Pavlik

Still annoying enough people here I see by your sad click standing there Vi, Have a cool click from me just for being honest and BLUNT. LOL.

[ICB]

Regarding the Hopkins fights I actually felt Taylor did enough to win both fights



Me too mate - 115-113 both times

Wow I've finally met the only other guy who agrees me with me.

We are a rare breed brother

I thought both fight's were sh1t and they both fought like girls, but I think Taylor just about one more rounds. People think Hopkins won the fight becuase the rounds that he won, he won very convincingly (well atleast the last 3 rounds of the 1st fight) whereas Taylor's rounds were not that impressive, just stolen.

The thing is with the 10 point must system, it doesn't matter if Taylor didn't land a punch in 5 of the rounds as longs as he landed a few more in 7 of the rounds he wins.

Crude eample, but you get my drift

Funny enough BIG H 1st fight was more controversial but i had Hopkins winning the 2nd fight and losing the first one.

[sexydarin]

i'm watching the first fight now. After the first three i have taylor winning all 3 rounds. Not much excitement though. Kind of a technical snoozefest.

[donnydarkoIRL]

i'm watching the first fight now. After the first three i have taylor winning all 3 rounds. Not much excitement though. Kind of a technical snoozefest.

Hopkins speciality

[LeftHookToTheBody]

Yes, people are much too tough on him. I guess it's because he while he's won, he hasn't had one those dominating performances to really impress people. But look at his last 5 bouts. 3 of them were against consensus top 5 p4p fighters (2 bouts versus Hopkins, 1 against Wright), and he went 2-0-1 in those 3 fights. Yes, all 3 bouts were debatable, but all 3 were legitimately close fights. If you fight Hopkins and Wright to a stand still, you are a damn good fighter. But, it's really been the last two fights that have folks down on him. People apparently think he should have blown through Spinks and Ouma because they were coming up in weight. But these two are no bums; both are world class caliber fighters. And it isn't as if these guys were coming up 3 weight classes or something; both had been fighting at 154 for a while. He won both decisions handedly, albeit not excitingly (some people indicated that they scored Spinks the winner, which absolutely stuns me, I see no criteria whatsoever where one could score the fight for Spinks, unless a determination to survive and not fight is considered strong criteria by some). So, in his last 4 bouts he is 4-0-1 versus 4 current or former world champions and 2 top 5 p4p fighters. Than is an excellent resume by any standard. I think the Pavlik fight will be very entertaining, but Kelly will be outclassed at the end of the day.

[El Kabong]

....Jermain has set the bar pretty freakin high as he took out Bernard Hopkins as close of a fight as it was JT still beat him.

Pavlik is a tough customer and it'll be a tough fight but it's the fight everyone wants to see and JT is all about making the right fights, say what you will about Ouma and Spinks, JT has fought Hopkins twice and Winky Wright...not too shabby

[donnydarkoIRL]

If he listens to steward, no problem...
Oh i forgot to mention. In a post-fight interview Manny Steward stated that Andy Lee would be middleweight champion of the world by the end of 2008. Kronk plan to dominate two weights with Taylor vacating?

[Gutbuster]

Taylor's going to shut everybody up when he stops Pavlik

Taylor has not even been able to stop Emanuel Steward from talking cr@p to Taylor. LOL

I want Kelly to win. He will be good for the sport.

Great white hope don't fail us now!

I just hope we have Steward and Taylor on opposite sides of the planet.
I hope it gets so bad in Jermain's corner that it turns into something like this:
[youtube=425,350]0DTJiS0vZ10[/youtube]
Jose Cotto (Miguel Cottos brother) did not want to go back to his corner (9th round?) because his uncle was yelling at him in between rounds He was not listening to his corner. Another thing that made Jose angry was that his uncle was throwing water at Jose's face with a sponge. According to Jose, his uncle was throwing it very hard and with bad intentions
Maybe next time they will add a little water softer to the bucket
I don't think Evangelista is trianing Jose anymore.

I hope Jermain spaps and goes off on Steward.

That was funny. How did Jose do in that fight?

As for Taylor I do think he gets too much flak. At least he's stayed active and been fighting top tier opponents with difficult styles that tend to be unflattering for opponents. Hopkins, Wright and Spinks are all three master technicians and Taylor did well enough to get the decisions, even if not everyone agrees that he should have. I don't think Taylor can be accused of ducking tough fights and personally I think thats enough to earn some respect.

The only concern I have is that having that string of fights against slippery, unorthodox, defensive fighters may have gotten into his head a little and made him less aggressive/ more reluctant to commit to his shots. I think thats what people were seeing a bit of in the Spinks fight and I think the Pavlik fight should answer some questions about whether he can shake that tentativeness.