Is Jermain Taylor the next Jeff Lacy -- 'shot' after his first loss?

marting · Oct 2, 2007

I don't think Taylor is shot. He damn near won that fight and it's not like he took an embarrassingly one-sided shellacking like Lacy did. If Terry O'connor had been reffing last saturday's fight he might have waved Pavlik off and we'd all be singing a different tune.

Taylor we'll make some more noise but he needs to learn better footwork if he's to ever face another puncher on par with Pavlik. He fought competitve fights with the likes of Winky and Hopkins. Lacy's one venture into the A class got him exposed.

English Nutter · Oct 2, 2007

paulfv said:

Some guys respond very well to a loss, and come back more focused and more intent on getting back to the top.

I think of Foreman, who told himself he would never be knocked out again after being KO'd by Ali. And he never was, despite taking some huge shots in later fights with Lyle, Holyfield and others.

I am somewhat concerned for Taylor, because his level of arrogance (things like believing he didn't need to listen to trainer Manny Steward's advice, etc) seemed extremely high, and he now goes from a fighter who had never been knocked down or out to a guy who was destroyed. As he said very honestly after the fight, "I can't believe I lost."

IMO, Taylor has lived on "Easy Street" for some time. Between his diet of favorable judging, HBO hyping and easy matchups (older guys, undersized guys), he seems to have lost his drive. Even for the best-schooled of fighters this can be a prescription for failure (see Mike Tyson), but for a guy who is more athlete than fighter like Taylor, it could be a fatal career move now that he is facing more substantial competition.

So I ask you: Is Jermain Taylor the next Jeff Lacy post-Calzaghe? The next David Reid post-Trinidad? The next Meldrick Taylor post-Chavez? Can and will he recover from this devastating loss or is this the beginning of the end of Taylor as a legit title contender/beltholder?

I'm not sure, personally. I think it could go either way. I never thought Taylor was particularly great before this fight, so even if he comes back strong mentally, he still just might not measure-up skills-wise against tougher competition like he faced this past Saturday night. I will definitely say this -- I do not think Taylor will ever beat Kelly Pavlik, no matter how much he improves or how much he improves his strategy. I guess there is a chance if HBO judges are scoring the fight, but that is the only way he could ever 'defeat' Kelly Pavlik in my mind.
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You made a few good points in that post which no-one i think really touched before the fight.
Everyone on here always used to go on bout he fights the p4p greats,at the end of the day those p4p greats were all past there prime and he didn't beat any of them by any margain whatsover(if any),he was hugely overated imo and got showed up by a half decent fighter(in his prime),not bein funny but pavlik aint nothin special but he beat a man who was supposidly p4p top ten before the fight.
Just shows how biased your lists are over here,ur bhops,winkys etc are not p4p top ten,i cant wait till Calzaghe fights your lot and show how overated they ALL are

Brickhaus · Oct 2, 2007

Jackass, Lacy isn't shot. He's injured. There's a big difference.

paulfv · Oct 2, 2007

For everyone saying Lacy was a bad example, yeah, I definitely understand your point. I guess I used of him because he went from "The Next Big Thing" to "exposed, injured, derailed question mark." That said, better examples of guys who were shot after a loss are David Reid and Meldrick Taylor.

DiBella should keep Taylor away from Pavlik for some time, IMO. Taylor would have to fight almost a perfect fight not to get KO'd again against Pavlik, and though I doubt he will ever be capable of doing so, he's definitely not mentally ready to do it right now after suffering his first, and dramatic, loss.

I voted "not sure" in the poll. Taylor has a number of good qualities on his side, but he's also been, IMO, spoiled and babied for years by HBO and DiBella. For a man who now is very wealthy, I'm not sure how much drive he has to work on his game. Even at his best his game had holes, and now many observers feel his boxing skill set has regressed.

I think deep in his heart Taylor is a very tough, humble and resilient person. Let's hope he can take a step back, get rid of all the "loser posse members" the likes of which brought down many great fighters before him (Rory Holloway, anyone?). I always liked Taylor before he became DiBella's and HBO's main guy. I really hope he can regain his footing and become what I think he is capable of as fighter.

Zakman · Oct 2, 2007

These guys were both overhyped coming out of the Olympics. They have "names," so if they continue to fight they'll be "in the mix," but neither is anywhere NEAR as good as advertised.

Personally, I'd like to see them fight each other in a sort of "crossroads" match eventually. It would be a very intriguing fight.

Stezzie · Oct 2, 2007

Curtis Lowe said:

I don't think Taylor will ever be the same, I just don't see him recovering from this. That said, I still like him more than Lacey, whom was extremely over hyped. Lacy never was, if I recall correctly, in any close tough fights other than the JC fight where he got his ass handed to him. Taylor on the other hand had the Hopkins fights and the Wright fight, were he showed some toughness. Still with the beating he took, lack of punching power and lack of aggressiveness, I don't see a real bright future for him.

If he fights Pavlik in a immediate rematch, that will be the end of his career.
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I had the fight dead even...when he would land the bombs they would stop Pavlik in his tracks...so he doesnt have lack of power...maybe a lack of technic and too much wasted energy....he needs to calm down...I could be more aggressive however...I think this loss actually pushes him into the next level...

compukiller · Oct 2, 2007

Hopkins Mentally ruined Taylor, and Pavlik broke his chin.

With that said, if he can learn his fundamentals, he may work his way into another big fight.

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Is Jermain Taylor the next Jeff Lacy -- 'shot' after his first loss?

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Is Jermain Taylor the next Jeff Lacy -- 'shot' after his first loss?

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