I can't believe that some posters here say Taylor should not retire. He once was undisputed middleweight champion. That is a great achievement and after losing to Abraham, it is clear that he will never achieve something of this magnitude again. In his previous losses, Taylor had brilliant moments offensively. He knocked down Pavlik and Forch and after these losses, you could still make a case for Taylor doing better next time. Many folks on ESB picked Taylor to win the rematch with Pavlik and he came close to doing that. Froch needed Taylor to fade with stamina problems to win that fight. The really bad news for Taylor now are: 1. His stamina WAS better than against Froch and it didn't really help him 2. In those early rounds, when Taylor usually shines even in fights he loses or gets close to losing, his offense was ineffective. Sure, he won the first 4 rounds, but anyone can win those rounds against Abraham. He never came close to hurting Abraham, never landed those blistering combinations that send Pavlik and Froch to the canvas. He came out every round pumping his double jab, always landing it on Abraham's gloves. Abraham landed more effective punches with his occasional explosions than Taylor with his consistent activity. After this fight, who would pick Taylor to win a rematch? It is clear that he isn't going to ever beat Abraham. After two KO losses in a row, his chances of beating Froch in a rematch seem slim. Kessler has a similar style to Pavlik while being bigger and faster and he packs a good punch. Taylor is a likeable guy with tons of heart. He is a talented but also limited fighter, not quite superstar material. For his talents, he has achieved a lot, how many fighters ever become undisputed champion in any weightclass these days? He will never exceed his past accomplishments and if he keeps trying, he will get knocked out again and risk his health. I want to see Taylor as a healthy, happy family man who can proudly tell his kids that for a brief time, he ruled middleweight boxing and beat the legendary Hopkins.
Don't you think Abraham's great defense (and Pavlik's, Froch's lack of) had something to do with that? Don't act like Booradley! JT admitted he was in the best shape of his life, and when he was once again 10 seconds away from the scorecards, Abraham was actually more tired, Taylor's pre-camp diet seemed to work very well... we was just closely outboxed by the better boxer (which people seem to overlook), and Jermain looked like a good contender for the semis (and Abraham a great one). Then the KO... that freaking KO changed everything. It was too brutal. That single punch and landing hard on the canvas might've ended JT's career, who had to go to the hospital before leaving to the US yesterday. So his performance itself suggested he has plenty left, but the KO might've ruined his chance to work his way up through the tournament. Goddamn KO... :-(
It wasn't just the KO.........it was pretty much a non performance on JT's behalf, the diet didn't change anything in my eyes, if anything he was lethargic, no snap, no power, like the old JT! the KO just punctuated the fact that's it's over for JT!! Terry Norris comes to mind, a couple brutal KO's is all it takes!!! MY 2 cents
If the damage he picked up is serious enough to justify him pulling out of the Super 6 that's fair enough, but if not I want to see him finish out the tournament. Just because he got beat by Froch and AA, he wasn't that far off against both guys. He's still good enough to be in there with them and I want to see how he gets on in his last 2 fights at least.
I am a huge fan of AA and always felt he was underrated as a boxer. The point is, Taylor appeared to be a fighter who had accepted losing. He kept doing the same thing over and over, was he hoping that AA's guard would suddenly disappear? In Taylor's corner, there was no real urgency when the fight turned in AA's favor, as if they didn't really expect to win. Of course AA's guard had a lot to do with the outcome of the fight. Vitali's reflexes made Arreola miss almost all his punches, but Arreola kept fighting like a man who wants to win. I didn't see that from Taylor. Hopkins is as good as it gets defensively, still Taylor had the early round firepower to trouble him. I feel that AA is the better, more effective fighter anyway and would have won not matter what, all I am saying is that Taylor isn't going to get back to the brilliant offensive fighter he once was.
Why wait until he is medically unfit to box, which would basically mean permanent damage he carries into his life after boxing? Three KO's in two years should be enough reason to prevent further damage, especially since he is clearly never going to get back to the level he once had. Holyfield might be medically cleared to fight one, but is that really a good idea?
