Before the Hopkins/Pavlik fight, I was actually tossing around a far-fetched, three pronged hypothetical scenario that had Hopkins beating Pavlik, Calzaghe beating Jones, and Taylor beating Lacy in order to set up a Taylor/Hopkins trilogy (as someone else pointed out, Jones needs to lose in order for this to even be considered, otherwise he is Hopkins' first choice).

Now, with Hopkins' surprising showing against Pavlik, this scenario seems entirely plausible.

But I really can't see where either fighter would be interested in it.

Hopkins tried to solve the Taylor puzzle twice, and couldn't do it... at least not well enough to convince more than 1 out of 6 judges. Maybe at 170 lbs he would fair better and eek out a win, but Taylor's combination of speed, power, and awkwardness still present a match-up problem for Hopkins. Pavlik made BHOP look good, but the only time he looked that good against Taylor was when Taylor was gassed in the later rounds. And I would argue that the Taylor we saw in the rematch with Pavlik was a better fighter than the Taylor that beat Hopkins twice - calmer, more disciplined, stayed off the ropes, more accurate, etc, etc.

Also, Taylor has reason to shy away from Hopkins III because you could easily argue that the first two fights with Hopkins made him a different fighter, and not for the better. I think those fights significantly contributed to Jermain's diminished confidence in the ring. I feel we could finally see him restoring that bravado against Lacy in a few weeks... so putting it all on the line again so soon against Hopkins would be risking the rest of his career. Plus, if he loses to Hopkins in a third matchup, it SERIOUSLY puts the credibility of his first two controversial victories in question, even moreso than they already are after his two losses to Pavlik, who was dominated by Hopkins.

Besides, Taylors only motivation to fight Hopkins again would be to beat him DECISIVELY this time around, which nobody has done to Hopkins since Jones. So even by winning again, if it's a close victory like the others, he doesn't really gain anything. He'd have to do the impossible to make the fight worth his while.

So... as a fight fan I would actually like to see them go at it again, but I am predicting that neither guy wants to revisit that phase of their careers.