Jermain Taylor accomplished a lot in boxing, but it feels like his career was stopped dead in its tracks by brain injuries, addiction and legal issues. Do y'all consider Bad Intentions to be a "what if" in boxing?
Taylor was a very good fighter that had a very steep decline. I saw him fight multiple times as an amateur and he was a highly touted ,athletic kid that was huge for his division. I think those two fights with Pavlik and brutal knockout loses against Abraham and Froch wrecked him permanently but you could kind of see him slipping before that. I honestly thought Cory Spinks beat him and it was very clear that Manny Stewart thought the same while working his corner. All that said, he still had a very impressive career both amateur and pro. It's a shame that he is broke and seemingly damaged permanently. He seemed like a genuinely good guy.
It’s a sad story for sure. He looked very special up until the first Pavlik fight. That knockout was brutal. Taylor had some natural talent and good athleticism but it just didn’t last
I also think him firing Manny Steward didn't help Taylor at all. I feel like stuff got worse right after that happened.
To me he seemed to fight with too much nervous energy, he never seemed completely relaxed in a fight. And that's why he faded late in fights. Overall he was a solid fighter with good skills and a good jab, no shame in losing to Pavlik who was very good himself before his own demons eventually took hold of him. Taylor was also 16 seconds away from beating Froch, again no shame in losing that fight either as Froch was a very durable tough opponent. I just don't think overall Taylor was a great fighter, but theres no shame in that. He still had good wins over Hopkins, and a very underrated draw vs Wright. But Pavlik just had his number I think he even beat Taylor as an Amateur aswell although I could be wrong, if anything I think Pavlik was a better overall Middleweight than Taylor. But moving up to Light Heavyweight and losing to Hopkins, combined with his drinking problems ruined his career unfortunately.
If anything, Taylor overachieved. In Taylor's prime, he needed a split decision over the MUCH smaller Corey Spinks. Spinks had no business fighting at 160 (much less getting a title shot there). In reality, about the only legitimate scalp on his record is Hopkins. And, that was more likely due to the fact that Hopkins (a true Light Heavyweight) could no longer make 160 without suffering some performance reducing consequences. In his absolute prime, Taylor was destroyed by Kelly Pavlik, and, couldn't even win the rematch over a Pavlik that was starting to drink heavily.
Jermaine had pretty good speed and athleticism and a nice jab. While talented in those areas, I felt that he had a problem with “feeling the sport” compared to other top fighters. He seemed like a tense fighter, and made a lot of technical mistakes (particularly backing up in a straight line to the ropes). He looked very flawed, but yet fought on about-even terms twice with Hopkins and once with Winky. It was weird. His flaws hurt him dearly against Pavlik, he kept getting caught with straight rights and got beat on the ropes. I thought he fought really well in the rematch. He avoided getting hit with the right, and avoided going to the ropes as well. He seemed to do things with more purpose than usual. He did a good job, but Pavlik was busier and had more left in the tank in the final rounds. That nervous energy Taylor seemed to have probably hurt him in fights in the late rounds. He never should have been allowed to box again after the brain bleed. It’s a sad story. The guy is a ticking time bomb and could have easily killed a couple of people already. He get sent to a mental institution and beat the hell out of some guy there.
Always flattered to deceive imo and is one of the worst lineal champions at middle, though obviously still a good fighter in the scheme of things. Mostly speed, size and a good jab but flawed in all other areas, heavily hyped and fortunate to scrape by the skeleton of Hopkins at middle twice. The Ouma and Spinks fights are burned into my eyes for the wrong reasons. He was definitely an overachiever. His personal life though is very sad.
He went from being a lineal champion, to a stepping stone to a title shot very quickly. One day somebody on this forum asked me the question "OK so just how many up and coming contenders can make their reputation on Jermain Taylor?" Still, he was the lineal successor to the Nonpareil, and all those great middleweight champions that came after him. Nobody can take that away from him.
Wins: Hopkinsx2 (lineal) Spinks Joppy Winky (draw to retain title) Truax Soliman for IBF title Loses: Pavlik x 2, but Taylor almost stopped him in the first fight Froch, but Taylor dropped him and was winning into the 12th Abraham Taylor did not suck. Guys who suck do not have that much success.
