I told my brother over the phone: "As long as Pavlik is close and/or 'in the fight' after 6 rounds (which everyone save the 3 garbage HBO judges and maybe Lampley knew he was), he will win because Taylor always tires out. Even I didn't think Taylor was going to go out that fast. Jermaine is one of the easiest guys to hit I can remember of any supposedly-excellent fighters of recent memory. Once he got a little fatigued and the speed just slightly dulled, it was 'bombs away' for Pavlik and night-night for Taylor. Ray Charles saw this coming. Though I can't see Taylor getting any belts back while Pavlik is around, it will be interesting to see how "Bad Decisions" handles this huge KO loss. We'll see what Taylor is made of now, without HBO and bogus judges to bail him out. Should be interesting.
You talk like it was a Pavlik show through the full 7rds of the fight...don't forget that Pavlik himself almost got stopped in the earlier rounds...If Taylor could crack a little harder I think he could have stopped him...I give Pavlik all the credit in the world for the win and beating the man at 160, but it wasn't a one sided bout.
In the first post, I said the thing you can always count on with Jermaine, like Oscar, is that he will gas as the fight goes along. So, "Jermaine De La Hoya."
After Pavlik was knocked down, I thought he was going to get stopped. But when he weathered the storm, I knew Taylor was in for a tough fight. Pavlik has been knocked down early before, but always gets stronger as the fight goes on.
