I'd like to see Lemieux fighting Korobov - Lee winner & then the winner fights GGG

I don't think there's even close to a chance Sergio will be cleared to return, I think he may need more work done on his knee.

 

No way we'll ever see Taylor vs Lemieux. Surely Dibella isn't going to stick him in with a puncher like Lemieux after all the controversy regarding his health. Soliman was a 'safe' option because he couldn't crack an egg with a sledgehammer, Lemieux arguably hits harder than all three of the guys who stopped the younger healthier Taylor.

'Taylor, 36, won a unanimous decision against Soliman on Oct. 8, and DiBella says it all worked out perfectly, where Taylor faced someone he could beat who didn't pack a hard punch.

“I’m very happy that he got an opportunity against a guy that as it was proven, he had an actual chance to beat,” DiBella said. “Sam Soliman won his title legitimately when he was 40 years old and he’s not a big puncher and he was right in Jermain’s wheelhouse to have a chance to win and Jermain capitalized on it.”

Then there is the matter of this latest title shot for Taylor, who is not being asked to jump into deep, shark-infested waters with an anchor tied around one foot and a cement block around the other. Soliman is a good fighter, to be sure, but he turns 41 on Nov. 13, he’s lost 11 times and his knockout percentage suggests that, well, he isn’t exactly a puncher on a par with WBA middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs) or WBO champ Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs), either of whom would pose a far more substantial threat to Taylor’s face and internal organs than the Aussie. The guess here is that DiBella, being DiBella, would never consent to pairing Taylor with as devastating a knockout artist as Golovkin in a unification bout should JT reclaim a share of the middleweight throne by getting past Soliman.

“I’ve been with Jermain Taylor since he was a kid,” noted DiBella, taking care not to give away too much of his future plans for this latest stage of Taylor’s career. “We go way, way back, through a lot of stuff. I care deeply about the guy. But I didn’t want Jermain to be licensed and fight King Kong. I believed that if I was involved, along with Al (Taylor’s adviser, Al Haymon), we offered a checks-and-balances system for Jermain, even though he had been given a clean bill of health. We didn’t want to see him thrown in with a really tenacious puncher.'

Korobov seems up for the challenge to face Golovkin next year though.

WBO #1 rated middleweight and also WBO mandatory challenger Matvey Korobov (24-0, 14 KOs) of Orutukan, Russia, but presently fighting out of Saint Petersburg, Florida, expressed his interest in a fight with WBA/IBO king Gennady Golovkin in future, and said that there is backing in place from American television for such a bout to be made.

'Korobov, 31, faces "Irish" Andy Lee (33-2, 23 KOs), one year his junior, in a bid for the vacant WBO middleweight title on Dec. 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I guess a fight versus Golovkin will be an interesting affair for Russian and European fans, but followers of the sport overseas [in American] will not be disappointed as well. I’m positively thrilled with such a collision, and there are certain chances that it can happen the next year," said Korobov.

"As far as I know HBO is interested [in this fight], and my promoter Top Rank is interested as well. We need just a small step towards this fight. Together with Gennady we can show world-class boxing, attract the fans both in Russia and abroad."