Thoughts on Jermaine Taylor?

I hear ya. But alcoholism and depression are no laughing matter themselves.

 

Wicked sad to see such a humble dude come down with such a horrible illness.

 

Forget him bro hes clearly a ****ed up human being. Anyone who derives pleasure from another's misfortune -- especially this type -- has serious ****ing problems and is even more ****ed up than the human being they are laughing at. And it makes them even more ****ed up when they laugh at said person in that situation when said person was as humble and good a guy as Taylor was pre-head trauma.

 

He's from my home town, I've met him multiple times, he was a great dude when he was coming up. He has CTE now and is a shell of his former self, it's hard to pinpoint when and where, but what's become of him is heartbreaking (for me). At his best he was good, he wasn't necessarily Elite, leaving Pat Burns stunted his growth. It's not that Manny wasn't a great trainer, but Pat just had a way of reaching Jermain. I don't think he would necessarily beat any of those guys but they are gonna have to go through hell to beat him.

 

Beats Sturm, Martinez, Canelo.

Golovkin is 50/50. Either Golovkin gets a late KO over a tiring Taylor. Or Taylor boxes his way to a decision.

What I dont think people realize is Taylors chin wasnt that bad. First of all Pavlik is the hardest punching MW in a very long time. He hits harder than Golovkin. And Froch was a bigger, 168 pound guy who could only stop him due to accumulation and fatigue.

 

One of the most gifted athletes to ever lace a pair up.

The fighter that beat Hopkins beats them all.

Remember he dropped Froch and was way ahead with 12 seconds to go.

 

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He was always a physically gifted fighter. But, even before the CTE, he had a very limited ring IQ. I think his resume is as good as it ever was going to get. Hopkins didn't ruin him. If anyone ruined him, it was Pavlik. I was at both Pavlik-Taylor fights, and he fought with much less confidence after getting stopped in that first fight.

As for the matchups: he likely loses to all of them except Sturm. He definitely gets knocked out by GGG.

Had he fought a prime, middleweight Hopkins, he would have been knocked out cold, as well.

 

I used to be a huge Hopkins fan and hated Taylor for beating him and then the draw with Winky

My gut instinct is to say he loses to those guys and i base that on flaws and multiple KO losses

But then thought comes in he beat Hopkins twice I don’t find the fights that controversial. Wright was nip tuck and many referees would have stopped Pavlik in round 2. He also nearly beat Froch

I’m not so sure he’s completely out of these fights

It’s crazy to think about him getting worse under steward. I do believe RING did a rise and fall of Taylor and Pavlik and discussed Taylor getting hooked on drugs when moving his camp to train with Steward

 

A prime, fully focused Taylor in top fighting shape IMO beats a prime Andre Dirrell -- possibly quite easily -- and I think said version of Taylor gives Joe Calzaghe all kinds of he'll. Taylor was always very dangerous early in fights and was so fast, explosive, and accurate early on that I think he definitely could catch Joe C. early and probably hurt him with a slight chance of stopping him though I think that would be very unlikely. Joe C. Was great at adapting and making in fight adjustments, but the drawback to that was that he was usually a pretty slow starter which left him vulnerable early in a fight. If I had to put money on it then id drop it on Joe C. UD but regardless of who won I think it would be a straight up shootout type gun fight and would be hard fought by both till the end and if it went to the cards whoever the winner I think it would be razor close.

Jermaine's unreal physical and athletic gifts combined with his skill set I think is potentially very problematic for any fighter in recent times from 160-168.

 

Was handed a belt, didn’t win it legit.

 

Regardless of what anybody may think of him as far as his skills as a fighter, it’s always heartbreaking to see any fighter in his current condition.

 

He was drinking before Hopkins, not as bad, but to much for a pro boxer

 

He went from a "Yessir" polite and respectful southern boy, to a lunatic in a span of 10 years.

 

Great post