By Sammy Rozenberg

The FedEx Forum in Memphis Tennessee was the victim of a middleweight invasion. The boxing fans in attendance got a taste of the good and the bad. The undercard was good. The main event was beyond bad.

WBC/WBO champion Jermain Taylor (27-0-1, 17 KOs) beat Cory Spinks (36-4, 11KOs), the reigning IBF junior middleweight champion, by split decision in a dreadful fight on the eyes. The scores were 117-111 Spinks, 115-113 Taylor and 116-112 for Taylor.

The fight saw a very technical battle with Spinks pecking away with the jab and countering as Taylor tried to use his size and aggression. Taylor did not use enough of his size and aggression, which allowed Spinks to steal several of the rounds and make the fight close than it ever should have been. Many boxing experts expected a knockout win for Taylor, and were surprised to see Spinks last to the final bell.

Taylor gave Spinks far too much respect and it cost him. Trainer Emanuel Steward tried his best to verbally charge Taylor between rounds to blitz the powerless Spinks with an assault of punches. Taylor would not engage Spinks in a fire fight and seemed to focus on trying to outbox the boxer. Spinks thought he had the fight won and actually coasted the final round.

The style of Spinks does not make his opponents look good. He made Taylor look very bad.

Now we move forward and it's decision time for Taylor. Taylor has a nice list of potential opponents, but the most notable bout would be against WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe of Wales. In the last few weeks, promoters Frank Warren and Lou DiBella have been trying to iron out a deal that would bring both champions together for a September clash in Europe.

Both fighters want it, both promoters want it. Money is the issue, and it usually is when matching two name fighters. Initially, Warren made a $3 million dollar offer to Taylor's camp, and soon after it was bumped up to $4 million. Taylor came back with an unreasonable demand of $10 million.

In order to make or break the fight, the two promoters are attempting to meet somewhere in the middle. DiBella is willing to bring Taylor to Europe if Warren is able to come up with $6 million dollars. The same number that Taylor received for his June 2006 bout with Ronald "Winky" Wright.

According to DiBella, American cable network HBO is unwilling to pay the same licence fee for a Taylor-Calzaghe clash, as they did for Taylor-Wright. In other words, HBO doesn't view it as a bigger bout. Boxing fans from all over the world would disagree. DiBella told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette that if HBO comes up with $6 million, Warren can have the gate, sponsorship and any international TV money.

“We’ve already laid out a deal we’ll do that’s fair for them and fair for us, and if they want to do it, they’ll do it,” DiBella said. “HBO knows what it will take. You go to the lion’s den to fight the lion, you have to pay us right. I made a very fair offer, and if HBO pays the number to do it on HBO, it can be done. HBO knows what it will take, Frank Warren knows what it will take.”

Warren's last offer has been $5.4 million and 50 percent of the gate after it reaches $5 million. DiBella shot the offer down, standing his ground at $6 million and told Warren to keep the gate. Calzaghe said that for $6 million, he would be willing to fly down to America and fight Taylor in his hometown of Arkansas.

Should the fight with Calzaghe fall through, Taylor can defend his titles against mandatory challenger Kelly Pavlik, who was victorious on the undercard with a very impressive knockout of Edison Miranda. A fight with Pavlik would be less money, but the style of Pavlik makes for a much more appealing fight to the American public and possibly HBO.

Taylor would be willling to meet Pavlik - if that was the most profitable fight available.

"I'll fight Kelly Pavlik, but if someone offers me more money than I'll fight someone else," Taylro said.

On the undercard;

In an all-out war, Kelly Pavlik (31-0, 28 KOs) knocked out Edison Miranda (28-2, 24 KOs) in the seventh round to become the mandatory WBC title challenger to Jermain Taylor.

At the start, both fighters came out swinging with power punches, but Pavlik stuck to his gameplan of pushing Miranda back. Pavlik said that Miranda did not fight well going backwards - and he was right. The first five rounds saw Pavlik getting the better of the toe-to-toe power punching battle by backing Miranda to the ropes and unloading some thunder.

In the sixth round, a combination of punches against the ropes sent Miranda down. Miranda spit out his mouthpiece to get more time to recover and was penalized a point by referee Steven Smoger. Moments later, more power punches from Pavlik sent Miranda down again. Time ran out in sixth, but Pavlik continued the assault in the seventh.

A barrage of punches sent Miranda down for the third time in fight as Smoger jumped in to save Miranda from further punishment and Pavlik picked up a seventh round TKO victory.

Regarded by many as the brightest rising star in the sport, Andre Berto (18-0, 16 KOs), punished Martinus Clay (12-15-2, 4 KOs) on route to a stoppage win in the seventh round.

Undefeated middleweight Ronald Hearns (14-0, 11 KOs) scored an eight-round unanimous decision over Dennis Sharpe (17-5, 4 KOs). The scores were 80-72 across the board.

Junior lightweight prospect Ira Terry (15-0, 10 KOs) won a six-round decision over Carlos Valdez (8-8, 2 KOs). The scores were 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55.

Heavyweight prospect Chazz Witherspoon (18-0, 12 KOs) stopped Joe Stofle (10-11, 9 KOs) in the third round.

Jose Navarro (26-2, 12 KOs) picked up a six round stoppage win over Roberto Gomez (14-18-2, 10 KOs).