Taylor was undisputed middleweight champion but how good was he? I'm looking at some of his fights: -SD win over Cory Spinks a former unified WW champion in what many thought was a bad decision. -Draw with Winky Wright in another contentious one. Wright was a career 154lber. -Lost twice to Kelly Pavlik. -Beat a 40 yr old Bhop (twice) who was probably busting at the weight by then. Close fight the first if I remember rightly too.. -Beat 34 yr old William Joppy who was coming off a loss to Bhop & had been out for a year. -Beat Kassim Ouma, another career 154lber at that point. Them moved to SMW & kept getting knocked out (was even dropped by Caleb Truax) & was last seen in a mental institution ranting about white boxers.. HOF material or an HBO-created hype job who got gift decisions because of his connections to a powerful television network?
He was clearly very good but I think the thought he could coast on talent alone and never really got better at anything over the course of his career
Obviously talented and he did (slightly) get the better of Hopkins twice, but he plateaued early and had a string of poor performances as champion. The Wright fight was really fun, all things considered, because Taylor showed a lot of heart trying to solve the riddle. The Spinks and Ouma fights were disasters. Jermain couldn't quite get over the top against Pavlik (almost stopped him) or Froch, but he was game. He isn't HOF level but made for some entertaining moments and obviously had a lot of success. His decline outside the ring is very sad. He seemed like a decent guy but now appears to be severely brain damaged.
He was competitive but never really stood out as dominate. He was the first fighter, I believe to drop Pavlik, and also for a long time the only to drop Froch. He has some chin issues but I wouldn’t call him chinny, and he tended to get tired when he shouldn’t. His accomplishment in ending Bhops 12 year reign was his best moment. He’s what I like to call a ninety percenter. One of those guys who had all those tools but wasn’t able for whatever reason to dedicate themself 100% to the sport.
He was very good. Yes he benefited for some gift decisions, but the fact he was hanging in there with world class fighters is proof that he was no scrub.
Are all close fights "gifts" to you if the decision doesn't align with your opinion? All 3 fights were raZor thin
Being that bhop was the champ and was mauling taylor the last 4 rounds id say that was a clear robbery.
Never heard anyone call it a clear robbery before. What does bhop being champ have to do with it? If 2 judges though Taylor won 7 rounds or more he wins end of story
