Tuesday, September 25, 2007 Quijano: Taylor is haunted by a ghost By Jingo Quijano Last Round
THIS weekend, middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-0-1, 17 KOs) will once again try to silence his doubters when he takes on undefeated punching phenom Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik.
This fight hasn’t gathered much attention here because Pavlik is largely unknown to most Pinoy fight fans. But if you saw him on TV demolishing Colombian banger Edison Miranda in seven rounds last May, you would have to be impressed.
Pavlik carries a fearsome record of 31-0 with 28 knockouts. He is freakishly tall at 6’ 2 1/2” with serious power in both hands. He is currently riding an 8-fight knockout streak dating back to March 2005. In contrast, Taylor hasn’t knocked out anybody since Feb. 2005.
But here is where the difference lies.
Pavlik is largely untested and has only fought middling competition, while the retinue of Taylor’s opponents reads like a future Hall-of-Fame list. Bernard Hopkins. Winky Wright. Kassim Ouma. Cory Spinks.
You know what, despite his unspectacular performances of late, Jermain Taylor isn’t actually the problem. It’s his division. He is the middleweight champion and we expect much from our middleweight champions.
This division has produced some of the best champions the sport has to offer. We like them spectacular and dominant. Carlos Monzon. Marvin Hagler. Hopkins. Sugar Ray Leonard. Too bad for Taylor.
Insert “junior” before it or let him put on a few pounds to compete at super middle, and you probably wouldn’t care if Taylor fought like a popinjay.
This weekend, he will not only be fighting a ghost, but the ghosts of great middleweights past.
QUOTE CONTRAST. In the press conference leading up to the fight, Jermain Taylor appeared relaxed and confident.
“This is a man who says all he wanna do is fight? That’s the type of person I am. I’m a fighter. I’m a dog. Whether I’m cut or my hand is broke, it don’t matter”, he told those assembled.
Contrast this to what his trainer Emmanuel Steward had to say to Taylor during his last fight against contortionist Cory Spinks which he won via controversial split decision.
Steward was so worked up in the corner, he unleashed a crackling spew of invectives to fire up and motivate Taylor in the last round: “You’re not punching enough…I don’t give a f*** whether you land, just let them go. He did exactly what he said about stealing your bulls**t championship. You got three minutes man, you gotta fight.”
Your bulls**t championship? Like I said, poor Jermain.
PREDICTION. I don’t see why they call Pavlik “The Ghost”. The you-can’t-hit-what-you-can’t see dictum doesn’t apply to him. He just stands there and takes it.
Be that as it may, I’m taking the advice of my good buddy Atty. Sergio Rocamora who is now based in New Jersey, USA with lovely wife Melissa and their cute baby Luke.
He might be easy to hit, but he appears to take a punch pretty well as shown in his bout with knockout artist Miranda. I’m thinking of an upset. Pavlik by KO in round 10.
ICEMAN ICED. Speaking of upsets, UFC 76 was a joy to watch. The boxing purist that I am, I got what I wanted during the main event, as Chuck Lidell and Keith Jardine opted to fight the whole match standing up.
Just when I thought the “Iceman” would get Jardine out of there, he got caught with booming right hand and just like that the complexion of the fight changed.
The pugnacious Keith Jardine, bloodied and cut all over, really looked the “Dean of Mean” part. But I’d still pick his conqueror Houston Alexander over him in a rematch.
THE LAST ROUND. It’s on the mother of my two beautiful daughters, the girl who takes my breath away (still)-my wife and my favorite judge, Hon. Charina Navarro-Quijano. Happy Anniversary and Cheers!
