Taylor to return as a Middleweight on Showtime on Dec. 30

Good luck to him, Personally felt he'd never return because i never got impression he fully loved the sport.

I think with steady matchmaking he could have relative success in the division if he's retained his athleticism.

 

The Taylor that lost to froch and Abraham is good enough imo to be a top 3 middleweight now. People say he's chinny or shot now but the last 2 stoppages were final rounds against Froch, who has proven his class, in a fight Taylor was winning and against Abraham in a fight that was competitive. Worth noting that at the time Abraham was viewed as a beast and was favourite to win the super 6. That Taylor beats Chavez, Macklin, Barker, Lee and them guys. The question is , will he still be that Taylor.

Either way, best of luck to him. I've always liked Taylor

 

Maybe the break did him good because he looked like he was struggling to dig deep and maybe not puting the work in the gym, maybe I am wrong but that's the impression I got.

 

Will wait and see what sort of impact he will be able to make at middleweight I was always nder the impression that Taylor really struggled to get the weight down I have seen him in some out of training pics and he looks enormous maybe even 200 pounds?

 

Think also going back to MW is a smart move, He never was a SMW really i think the loses to Pavlik had him looking for a reason why he lost rather then fact he needed to improve things. To many jump up in weight for wrong reasons and although he showed himself to handle himself he will be a lot stronger and more suited to MW.

Edit: Wrimc if that's the case then looks like there hoping he can boil down and feel maybe he find it easier to handle MW's for strength and power?. I always felt he was better suited to MW.

 

funny we both said exactly the opposite thing

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Its the best one I can find but he seems bigger here than all the natural SMW's. Its a big ask for him he needs some knockover jobs to build his confidence he could have beaten Abraham but he was scared to death to throw that right hand.

He seems to me to be a confidence guy when its going good its going great as was the case v Pavlik and Froch but when it gets tough he tends to fold.

 

:good

Yeah he looks way over 168lbs there, Maybe his peak fighting weight is 160. I agree totally about the folding he's not a natural fighter he hasn't embraced the sport like Froch etc. I never took to him when he said in interviews stuff like 'I grew up in a house full of women, i never really watched boxing i'd watch soaps with my sisters and mum'.

He never gave impression he was greatly interested in the sport other then winning and earning then getting out. Funny that he's come back maybe he's sorta guy that can't go out like that. Props to him either way.

 

He's not really a chinny fighter, just not particularly durable.

At his best, he has pretty fast hands and a real athletic quality. Not great at anything, and had a poor Middleweight title run. He only needs one win and HBO will want him in with Martinez.

If Taylor is in good nick, that's a 50-50 fight IMO.

 

Taylors problem isn't talent or heart or willingness to face the best. It is solely to do with the fact he quite poor technically. He often out talents people as bigger, faster, stronger and more powerful but many elite fighters have plain exposed him. Poor footwork, crossing his feet, pulling his right hand, always off balance and rocking his head, no command of any form of real defence......

Taylor needs to work on the sweet science because there is nothing sweet about his science.

 

This is also true.

I say Taylor Vs Golovkin :hey

 

Very, very true. He was Pascal before Pascal.

 

In all honesty Taylor's resume is pretty poor. It completely rests on the Hopkins wins which are debatable a draw with Winky SD over Spinks then beaten up by Pavlik x2. Lacy looked an ok win at the time before everyone realised he was completely shot then losses to Forch and Abraham.

I dont think Martinez has too many problems with him especially at this stage. He has probably lost a bit of athleticism and is his confidence there.

 

The Hopkins fight stank the joint out and the decisions were blatantly 'changing of the guard' decisions. So glad B-Hop kept on fighting and succeeding and Taylor's reign went to bits. I don't think he won either fight but at same time Hopkins didn't do himself any favors.

 

Thats always been my feeling on it sort of well here is this young fellow who is athletic and good and Hopkins has had a decent innings.

Well BHOP has probably gone on to cement his legacy post Taylor it made him take the risks to get his name back on the map. I think that Taylor did just lack that killer instinct and he paid for that.