I thought Hopkins won both of their fights, although they were extremely boring and I think BHOP could have KOE'D Taylor in the first fight if he started sooner and didnt fight in that energy saving style like he did in his later years... He was MASSIVELY hyped by HBO to the point where it was irritating and I was rooting for him to lose. Overall he was a decent fighter and I enjoyed the first Pavlik fight a lot. Great KO by Pavlik.
This guy could not even take a clean punch since he had a serious problem with his glass chin. He got 2 gifted decisions when he fought Hopkins and I just started to dislike him after that. Taylor just danced around and threw 3-4 punches per round to beat Hopkins in the first bout. What a garbage fight! It was not the way that the challenger supposed to do to win the World Title.
He was good, but lost both fights with Hopkins, should have lost the Wright fight. He was just the right guy in the right place at the time, like Spinks in his heavyweight run. The nail in the coffin was his 168 run, getting stopped late by Froch, and then getting outboxed and starched by Abraham.
Jermaine Taylor had some amazing gifts, talent, and raw ability but he never had the work ethic or the trainers that could get the most out of him. He could have been an excellent fighter.
I disagree, Taylor's chin was not bad but he would freeze up when he got hit flush by big punchers. Pavlik and Froch both landed a lot of clean shots that Taylor took well. Taylor was just too tense in the ring which made him gas and vulnerable to hard punches in the middle to later rounds.
It's settled science. Mandibular analysis of Taylors chin concludes beyond any shadow of a doubt that it's made out of the finest china. All of the experts agree.
Honesty he is the one fighter (maybe the only fighter) that looked worse under Steward than he did before. Taylor should have never left Pat Burns. Taylor was going to get savagely KOed eventually whether it was Burns or Steward training him. I remember being frustrated at HBO letting Taylor feast on Junior Middleweights for the longest time before he would fight a proper Middleweight that was his size. Bottom line is you can't train a Glass Jaw so Taylor was going to be on highlight reel KO's anyway no matter who he fought or who trained him.
Anybody who gets hit like this by the Abrahammer is going down. Doesn't really matter If your chin is of wet paper machè or forged steel. The human equivalent of mjolnir cares not.
An excellent and talented fighter who never had the discipline to get to the next level. Still, it is impressive how far his talent took him. I thought Bernard should have been given the decision in at least one of their fights. Before Pavlik's issues caught up with him, he was a tough fighter and Taylor came incredibly close to knocking him out before being KO'd himself.
Taylor and Pavlik both ended up the same way. After they both went down then they didn't seem to come back again.
Jermain Taylor had decent hand speed and had a very good jab. His skills were not bad but he was far from being a master boxer. One thing that people have not pointed out was that Jermain Taylor did not look like a natural in the ring. He was always very stiff and jerky in the ring. He looked like he was trying too hard and/or he was always anxious.
Good enough to vest Hopkins twice and fight on fairly even terms with Wright He regressed I thought as champ and defended against a bunch of 154 guys. He actually got worse under steward and I believe in a ring article he admitted to having a drug problem develope during his title reign All things considered he was 14 seconds from taking frochs 0 and belt and many refs would have stopped the pavlik fight without much issue
