****in morons cry 'robbery' whenever there is a close fight that doesn't go the way they scored it. NONE of taylors fights were robberies..realistically, they were close fights. and comments like 'mediocre boxer' what bull****, mediocre boxers don't make it into the top ten nevermind become undisputed middleweight champ and be very competitive with the type of fighters JT has fought. your average fighter would kill to have half the talent Jt has :deal
don't shoot the messenger. i never claimed i thought they were i was just posting as to why i think a lot of people dislike the guy. simply put, a lot of fans thought his opponents got jobbed.
audley harrison is an olympic gold medalist. ricky hatton is an undisputed champ. big deal, it doesn't make you insanely talented by default.
You mAke it sound like becoming an olympian and a world champ are mediocre achievements, in reality achieving either requires some talent, this will be less evident if you haven't actually boxed yourself. Taylor is a very talented fighter IMO.
I did a bit of amature boxing as a teenager, and I'll tell you from personal experience that winning so much as a regional golden gloves tournament is a big freaking deal, and JT won a bronze medal at the Olympics! I never held the BHop and Wright fights against Jermain. I thought he did an extremely good job against two guys who are very hard to beat, and even harder to look good against. I critisized the hell out of him for fightiing Ouma and Spinks. Neither of those guys has any business in the ring with a big world class middleweight. However, to be fair, JT was probably just doing his job by fighting whoever DiBella ask him to. Taylor earned my full respect with the way he handled the situation with Pavlik. The improvement Taylor made between those two fights was pretty impressive. Taylor is now one of my favorites. I expect to see him win a title at 168. I also hope we get to see Taylor/Kessler. That's a great fight.
The Fall of Jermain Taylor -------------------- The two fights against Hopkins were close decisions that some felt should have gone the other way. Taylor was champion but his throne wasn't secure. A match was made with Winky Wright. It was a bold move but it just didn't pay off. It ended in a controversal draw. Worse their styles didn't mesh well and no rematch was made. His throne remained unstable. So a fight was made with Ouma. Taylor won convincingly but a knock out was expected and desired against the supposedly outmatched Ouma. Taylor still hadn't cemented his position as the middleweight champion and his throne was uncomplete. He tried to schedule a fight with Sergia Mora, but Sergia flaked. Then Taylor made the worst mistake of his professional career. He scheduled a fight with Spinks ignoring the lesson learned against Winky that his style doesn't mesh well with defensive fighters. Worse Taylor got into a verbal battle with Edison Miranda that gave some the impression that Taylor was avoiding the power punching Colombian. Taylor-Spinks exceeded its dismal expectations in its awfulness. It was a fight so boring that it hurt the brain to watch. Even Taylor fans who had come to see the fight were booing by the end. Taylor should have fought Miranda but instead the glory of adminstering Miranda's first beatdown instead went to Kelly Pavlik who stole the show with an exciting undercard slugfest. As a final blow Taylor appeared reluctant to face Pavlik in the post-fight interview leading many to suspect he'd duck out of fighting his mandatory challenger. Taylor had reached his lowest point and his throne was badly tarnished. The Rise of Jermain Taylor ------------------- Whether Taylor never intended to avoid Pavlik or was forced into by overwhelming public demand he did come round to fight Pavlik. Their styles did mesh well, and Taylor came close to winning. But Pavlik exposed Taylor's flaws (defense, stanima, and an inability to finish) and won by KO. But even though Taylor had lost his throne he gained the respect he had failed to get when he was champion. It turned out to be better to lose a good fight than to win a lousy one. Taylor went for the immediate rematch and fixed many of the flaws he exhibited in the first fight. Unfortunately for him Pavlik also fought a better fight and never gave Taylor the opening he had in the second round of their first fight. Though Taylor lost by a close decision, many recognized that he was much improved and showed considerable interest in Taylor's ambitions at super-middleweight. Once again Taylor had lost the fight but gained respect. The Future of Jermain Taylor? -------------------------- I think that Taylor has stretched this winning respect while losing fights angle about as far as it can go. With Joe Calzaghe vacating SMW belts left and right he has an excellent chance to pick one up against Jeff Lacy or Froch. I believe Froch would be the harder fight but I can't blame Taylor for seeking the easier one after two fights with Pavlik. A warm up fight would have been preferable but he missed his chance as the sanctioning bodies are setting up the belt fights now. The final step in Taylor's redemption may well rest with his next fight.
I like Taylor and think he's a really good fighter, who if he makes some noise at 168, could jump into the great category. He's fought a lot of tough fights and I think the clock is ticking on him. Credit to him for fighting ANYBODY. I didn't see the fight vs Winky in it's entirety (yet), but I didn't think the fights vs Hopkins were gift decisions at all. Hopkins (late in his career) is the poster boy for trying to eek out decisions without doing much.