Will Jermain Taylor Defeat Andre Ward?

i understand that this isnt a prime for prime poll...taylor is past it and ward may not be there yet.

i take a backseat to no one in pulling for jermain; hes an all time favorite of mine. on paper he matches up against anyone. but as boo once said...if there is a way to **** up a fight, jermain will find it.

ward won't gas taylor fighting the way he did against kessler. then again, fighting that way against taylor probably isnt the best idea. jermain is very accurate. he WILL catch ward diving in and finishing low with those lefts if that's the way ward chooses to fight. he did this against kessler but kess couldnt do **** about it. jermain is fast w/ his punches and is accurate.

i agree that ward doesnt have the punching power of pavlik or abraham. so maybe taylor can let it go a little more than he did against abraham??

i dunno, man. i'll be pulling for jermain as hard as ever, but i won't ever bet on him again.

 

No, Taylor just isn't that good. He's very overrated by some, and will likely be knocked out, as he usually is against top fighters in their prime at his weight.

 

if ward knocks out jt... i really would like him to retire already

 

well first of all Ward is not a dirty fighter and has never been one...2nd Taylor will actually give Ward a fight,unlike Kessler who was so EASILY beaten & battered up rnd after rnd..But we have to see how this 3rd brutal knockout loss has affected Taylor,remember he suffered a concussion after that KO...Ward by UD

 

if ward jumps in head first, jermain will start gretting him w/ an elbow. i agree paul, this should be an interesting fight. ward may not be completely feather fisted but he's definetly no abraham so taylor may lay it out there. there are things ward did against kessler that jermain can take advantage of.

jermain can jab and makes a living bringing that right over the top of his opponents left jab so ward would be advised not to switch up. taylor can be very competitve in this fight and on paper could very easily win. the thing is...this is jermain taylor. what can go wrong will go wrong. i love him to death but he finds new and inventive ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory all the time.

 

Though the maxim "styles make fights" is produced so often it can feel like I'm being bludgeoned with it, the point is a solid one. It's imprudent to merely evaluate the previous performances of each fighter in the abstract and prognosticate merely from that. The points you bring up are things that ought to be considered.

However, I think there are a few reasons that Ward ought to win this fight:

1) Froch is not that powerful of a puncher, certainly not in the class of Abraham or even Pavlik. He was able to rally back because of toughness and effective pressure, which exacerbated Taylor's well known stamina problems. I'm not claiming he's featherfisted, either, but I think it shows that Taylor is vulnerable to people with less than stellar power.

2) I think comparing Ward's style with Hopkins is appropriate, but there needs to be some qualification. Many people feel like Hopkins won both of the fights with Taylor. While I do not necessarily agree, that needs to be taken into account. More importantly, Ward is not as judicious with his punches as Hopkins was. He's not going to lose this thing because of inactivity. Thus, he combines some of the virtues, from a tactical perspective, of Hopkins rough style with a more voluminous output, and that makes him rather dangerous.

3) While I agree that this will be a new level of opponent athletically for Ward, the same can likely be said for Taylor. It's not as though he has a great deal of experience with guys who can both match his size and speed. I believe Ward can do that.

4) You have to give a definite edge, regardless of all the above, to Ward based on mental condition. Taylor's confidence cannot be good, no matter what he says to the contrary. Ward, on the other hand, is a naturally confident yet humble guy who has just beaten the tournament favorite.

 

If you´re gods son, you´re headbutts aren´t dirty, they a a gift from god.... :!:

 

Yea and this is coming from a guy who has Kessler as his avatar...why cant you guys just accept defeat??

 

I said it about 100 times before that Ward was the better man that night and won the fight, no doubt about that.

...but why don´t you let me speak the truth about Ward being a dirty fighter (at least that night) Kesslers cuts clearly were not from Wards gloves...

 

Are u sober?