I mostly agree with the rest of your post, but I think you're off in your interpretation here. It appeared to me that Taylor went into the ropes voluntarily, in order to lure Winky into trading. Jermain seemed to believe (correctly) that Winky couldn't hurt him, and if he could get Winky to throw, he'd have more opportunities himself. Of course, what Manny and everyone else saw was Taylor giving away rounds, while pounding into Wink's guard in the middle of the ring was all he needed to do to win the fight. Taylor has backed into the ropes a lot recently, and not just against Wright. What I hope happens, as a Taylor fan, is that Steward is able to communicate to Jermain that he'll have plenty of punching opportunities against Pavlik's weak defense no matter what he's doing, so paying attending to defense and not getting wild can carry him to victory.
I wouldn't expect it to be easy, but Taylor should win a style matchup such as this. The problem is that he's fallen short of expectations in every fight since winning the belts, and for that reason it's difficult to predict how he'll perform.
I don't mean like a walk in the park. I should've said much easier than it will be if he continues to IGNORE Manny.
I don't give a **** what anybody says. It ain't about who you like and who you don't. ****, if I think it's a bad style matchup for Berto, I'm betting against him. Pavlik is the bet in this one, but ya'll keep on hypin Taylor.
I feel you but sometimes it looks like he literally ignores Manny. He definitely gets frustrated though.
To me, it seems like Taylor panics for no reason, making it difficult for him concentrate and carry out orders. He had some rounds against Winky when he looked relaxed, and in those rounds he dominated. But when he gets hit or is having trouble finding his opponent, he seems to have trouble staying on task. He got wild against Ouma and was too restrained against Spinks. And when he was hurt by Hopkins, he turned very skittish. I don't doubt Jermain's heart, but I think his emotions sometimes get in the way.
If Taylor backs into the ropes repeatedly, he's probably going to get stopped. Pavlik can be opened up at range by a faster guy like Taylor, and Jermain theoretically should be able to use his feet to create angles and stay out of harm's way. Will he actually do this, though?
I am not totally sold on Pavlik just yet. Taylor really needs to impress me to think differently of him. I think that Pavlik have a good range of punches, great power, and pretty good ring generalship. Regardless this will be Pavliks toughest fight, but he will get my vote.
Pavlik will bring out the best in Taylor. No doubt it will be a reasonably close affair. I'm not too sure this fight will be a stoppage. Points. Taylor W12 Pavlik
This is a 50/50 fight and can go eitherway. Pavlik will go in and push Taylor back and Taylor with his hands speed will try to throw punches while backing up. It's gonna be a total punching war. The first fighter who gets hurt, loses. Of course everybody knows I'm picking Taylor.