After watching the Taylor/Pavlik fight for a second time...

These are my conclusions:

1. Taylors defense was worse from the beginning of the fight than what I originally had thought - He took way too many shots from the beginning. Any observer would be able to tell from the beginning, that by having that left so low, Taylor was asking for trouble that eventually caught up.

2. He lost more rounds than what I had scored originally. I gave him the 2nd, 5th & 6th (questionably).

3. Pavlik got caught in the 2nd for his stupidity of keeping his chin out & hands down for lack of respect of Taylor's power; after that round, he kept his hands up consistently.

4. With that said, Taylor could have taken this guy out in the 2nd round. He didn't press on hard enough and gassed himself in the round it seems... poor stamina for someone so young & who trained so hard & long for this bout.

5. Taylor was too close to Pavlik from the beginning and was only going backwards, instead of circling to his left.

6. Taylor made the mistake of allowing Pavlik to throw punches first & try to counter. While this was effective 30% of the time, it also resulted in him getting hit by Pavlik jabs and right hands due to his poor defense (see item #1)

7. Observing end of round 6, looking at JT walk to his corner, he seemed like he just completed a gym workout and was ready to go home. which leads up to the next point

8. Round 7 he ate jabs like he was on a Jabkins diet & he looked like a walking corpse ready to take a fall any second. His movement in rounds 6 & 7 reminded me of a mummy, as he really looked gassed, especially in round 7.

9. JT was way to tense early in the fight. He seemed like a nervous fighter. If I didn't know who the champion was, I would have thought it was Pavlik; he was calm, cool, more confident, & kept his composure and adjusted in the fight, whereas Jermaine went from bad to worse.

10. Besides that 2nd round, Pavlik didn't really seem get hurt by JT's punches.. at the same time, he did a good job of blocking some of them. Pavlik looked goofy at times (irrelevant) and slow (releveant) with some of his punches, but he was consistent throughout and used better technique than Taylor & was able to capitalize on Taylor's mistakes better than Taylor on his. I think this is partly is because he had some less obvious mistakes.

The way JT got ko'd looked pretty bad in the end. He seemed exhausted both physically and mentally and I really do hope but wonder he can come back from this. I wonder if 160lbs suits him, because he seemed to have severe stamina issues in this fight, dispite training properly for this fight.

This raises another question-Will or should Emanuel be in his corner for the next fight? I have come to the conclusion that Emanuel does not connect well with Jermaine Taylor as a fighter. For some reason, his words of advice do not impact or connect with the younger cub the way it should. Also, in this fight, Emanuel reacted way too cool and laid back while Jermaine was making his mistakes from the beginning.

I didn't see a much improved Pavlik, but instead I saw the same Pavlik that fought Miranda and Zertuche. He needs some improving to do as well, though I admit not as much as Taylor... The improvements I think he should make are, but are not limited to, getting some better speed behind his punches, get more pop behind his jabs, & try to vary some of his punches punches (hooks etc) behind a left jab.

What are you guys' thought? for those who got to see the fight more than once.

This fight was an example of how mistakes can cost you a fight, just like in other sports, teams loose by mistakes. For example, turnovers in Football & errors in Baseball. In this case, Pavlik almost lost because of his own mistake in the second round & JT due to various mistakes throughout the bout which eventually caught up. With mistakes costing both fighters something, Jermaine being the bigger spender of the two, purchased himself a 7th round ko.

 

Well I've liked Pavlik from seeing fight before, he has a style thats hard not to like, but I like Taylor also and was rooting for him (I like rooting for underdogs) & thought people were counting him out way too quick without giving him much chances of anything. Objectively, I picked Taylor to win because I had faith that he would fix some of these known errors he and his camped talked about fixing in training, but I never counted Pavlik out. For example, look at the second Sam Peter vs Toney fight. Sam made many small adjustments in his fighting to win. Well this is a bit different cause he already had fougth and seen Toney, one thing is to watch the tapes and another is to be in there fighting the guy.

This brings another possibility...if jermaine rematches pavlik, will he be able to make adjustments in a second fight like Peter did against Toney? mmm questionable. If I recall, Toney didn't make any adjustments for Peter dispite him saying he didnt want to do certain things over again.

Regarding changes Pavlik needs to make-He doesn't need to change the style in which he fights necessarily, but sharpen what he does well. He throws a jab, but he can improve it. And regarding his combinations, I think he does throw combinations, but he tends to repeat them when he fights in center of the ring. he would be more effective if he could improve speed on his punches & also throw more varied combinations, not just the same 1-2s. For example, he did this at times, where he went to the body, but he needs to do more of this.... In other words, he was predictable at times and allowed Jermaine to slip some of his punches with his hands down. But, imagine if he were to be fighting a crafty guy like Hopkins or someone else with a good defense, alot of shots would be blocked. I think learning to throw more varied combinations will allow him to not be so predictable. Think of how Cotto hunts down and kills boxers; he finds ways of connecting.

 

I dont want to convert this thread on a who vs Pavlik would win or wouldnt. He is the champion yes, but he can still improve and sharpen certain things he does well, into better. I will say it again, Im not saying to change his style, but do little things here and there to make him better for the long run. Unless you believe he is perfect? I hope not, and from reading others opinions on this board, others will agree he is far from perfect. If he wants to be successful at defending his belt & plans on reigning for a long time, he will need to improve, because not everybody he faces will be old or have a bad defense or no offense.

And by the way, some of the things that gave Hopkins problems with Jermain was Jermaines hand speed & explosiveness. Pavliks fighting style is different in that its more predictable...something that would allow a guy like B-Hop ways of avoiding his hard shots.

 

I agree, he needs to increase his boxing intelligence. THere are basic things he needs to learn how to do but also other important things like learning how to set & control a tempo in the fight. In observing his past fights, it seems he has let the other guys set tempos.

Booklord-his stamina really concerns me as well. That is a huge factor, especially a guy like Pavlik. I've seen him fight at a faster pace than what he did with Jermaine that night and go more rounds without looking gassed and finishing guys, so stamina improvement would be vital. I personally find it to believe that he would be getting old at this point and that he is past his prime. Thats why i questioned on whether he would be better suited at 168lbs. Maybe 160 is taking too much out of him, despite having a smaller frame than Pavlik. I for istance, am about 6'1 and got to 190lbs at one point in my life and felt like a walking corpes at that weight. I would exercise and eat properly (5-6 times a day) do cardio, etc. But my ideal weight for me is 205. I don't have a freaken clue how in the hell someone can get to 160lbs at 6'1.