Does anybody else think that Jermain Taylor was actually a pretty good fighter?

Taylor was a good fighter...............

 

Taylor was a very good yet very flawed fighter. He had a powerful jab but I don't think his power was anything special. If anything, Taylor had to load up on his punches to generate power. His right hand was telegraphed, ugly and wide. He lacked fluidity especially for a guy with such good speed. His timing was not bad but by no means exceptional. What he did have to his advantage was a long reach and a sort of awkwardness that actually in his favor again a passive Hopkins.

As far as the first Hopkins fight, I don't think he so much won it as much as Hopkins just leaving too much doubt. Taylor had a much higher work rate especially in the early going but even in those rounds Taylor would land a couple of jabs he would literally be swiping at air 85% percent of the time and Hopkins would catch him with a couple of CLEAN counters but people would rather give Taylor the benefit of the doubt when most of the clean punching was from Hopkins even in the early rounds. I scored it 8-4 for Hopkins (seriously). The second fight is almost the same deal. Taylor would get credit for punching a lot of air but Hopkins would sneak in counters that nobody would notice without watching slowmo replays. I score it 8-4 Hopkins as well. The Wright fight should have been a decisive victory for Wright; he was hitting Taylor cleanly at will especially on the ropes while Taylor was landing a lot of partially blocked punches. Taylor was competitive with Hopkins and Wright but he was clearly inferior technically.

Taylor clearly outgunned and beat Ouma but looked sloppy in the process and still got hit a fair bit. Taylor did beat Spinks but not by much and looked poor in doing so. Taylor did show even in losing his title to Pavlik that he had heart. The rematch I actually thought he showed tidier boxing and fought an even fight with Pavlik. The decision could have gone either way.

As far as Taylor's chin, what exactly made him glass-jawed? He took clean, massive punches from Froch and Pavlik who both have heavy hands. Taylor's biggest problem is that he had a porous defense plus he would gas pretty bad over the course of a fight. Those are the biggest factors in his knockout losses.

 

exceptional.. He was like Amir Khan. Great skills and could have been an all time great, but they don't have the fight plan or patience to fight with a plan. They just ended up brawling and wasting beautiful talent.

 

He was a very talented fighter but he didn't have the craft and technique to go with that natural talent. He relied heavily on his physical advantages in regards to his speed, power and size.

We saw how Hopkins dealt with Pavlik and Wright far more easily than Taylor did as proof that Taylor was just wrong for Hopkins at that stage. Hopkins had slowed, he simply couldn't deal with Taylor's speed of hand and foot. In the later stages of the fight when Taylor tired and his speed dropped off a little, we saw a different fight emerge and then we also saw Taylor's flaws, once his speed couldn't subdue an opponent he couldn't find other ways to win.

As to how good he was, he clearly belonged at the elite level. Even if you think he lost to Wright to was very competitive against a fighter who beat middleweight title holders in Tito and Soliman. He was competitive vs Pavlik and Froch in those losses.

But he fell short of being great. Talent only takes you so far. That's the doubled edged sword in regards to talented fighters. For every RJJ or Mayweather who train to maximise their talents you'll find more Khan's and Taylor's who rest on their laurels and not put the work in to improve their technique and skills over time to maximise their gifts.

 

Solid but over rated. Wright should have gotten the nod.

 

Unproven Charlo?! I don't think so. He hasn't proven himself yet. Its all fun and games fight punchless journeymen, but let's see how he does when fighting somebody who isn't coming to lose.

 

Yes of course.

 

For a guy that did no particular one thing incredibly well, and who never even really liked boxing (as spectator nor performer, just viewed it as his job, per some candid interviews from during his reign), Jermain was perhaps the most overachieving "mediocrity" of all time.

If you were to break his overall abilities down by categories, as granular as you can get, all the different aspects that you could analyze in a fighter's game, and have a panel of experts provide him a numerical score in each of those categories - yes, he would ultimately prove to be a "mediocrity" by the standards of a world champion, rated against their peers historically. As in, middle of the road. He really didn't shine in any one area.

Taylor was more than just the sum of his parts, though, as his successful career testifies.

Two nip and tuck affairs with B-Hop (a version that had comfortably sat atop the world at MW for some time and ruled with an iron fist; and who still had nine years ahead of him operating at the world class stratum, including some of his career best victories) and one against Winky... two competitive losses to Kelly Pavlik at his absolute zenith... shutouts over Brewer & Joppy... stoppages of Alex Bunema, Raúl Diamante Márquez, and Daniel Edouard... and then, in one's thirties, after having been thrice KTFO in devastating fashion (such that you could understand a career being ended by any one episode, of three) by concrete-fisted white boys, coming back to beat Truax & Soliman to reclaim a piece of the MW title pie - that isn't the CV of an ordinary fighter, even if he was a "mediocrity".

 

Soliman was injured during the fight TBF.

 

he would of been successful around anytime but similar results would happen.

guys like ggg would ko him. canelo would prolly ko him.

once he got up to 168 . 168 currently not much going on. lots of fighters unproven. guyss like benevidaz looks good but his career just getting interesting. as well as caleb plants. degale just lost and taylor would prolly knock degale out. ramirez , eubank, smith . the jury is still out we dont kno who the real deal is outta all these guys. its kinda a sneaky good division

 

Taylor was a great physical specimen that didn't have a brain. His inability to adjust was his undoing.

Contrary to some people's belief, you have to be both a thinker and a physically talented person to be a great fighter.

 

Pretty good fighter. Was great a time when the MW division was stacked.. went downhill pretty quick though

 

It gets whitewashed these days but that was actually the prevailing opinion about Hopkins' reign, as of when he was dethroned by Taylor his only "legit" victories were seen as Trinidad and DLH (and neither was even a real middleweight, with the latter officially just 1-0 at the weight, and that only via robbery over Sturm)