by David P. Greisman - Get dropped. Survive. Win.
Amir Khan did it against Marcos Maidana. Miguel Cotto did it against Ricardo Torres. Juan Manuel Marquez did it against Michael Katsidis.
And Jermain Taylor did it against Caleb Truax.
This is what great fighters must do. This is what Taylor had never been able to do before. He’d been knocked out by Kelly Pavlik. He’d been knocked down, then stopped by Carl Froch. And he’d been knocked unconscious by Arthur Abraham.
He’d never survived, never mind winning.
That is what great fighters must do, what Taylor had never done before the Truax fight. That is what gave Taylor reason to celebrate after he beat Truax on Saturday — coming off the canvas with two and a half minutes to go in the ninth round and holding on to win, both literally and figuratively.
“I’ve been knocked out four times, man. I’m not going no more,” Taylor said afterward. You’ll forgive him for forgetting the number of knockouts wrong. He was more focused on what he was getting right. “All the training I’m doing is paying off,” he said.
“I got back up and did my thing,” he said. “We worked on that all day. That’s all I’ve been thinking about was how I’m going to act when I get knocked down, if I get knocked down.”
You’ll forgive the rest of us for not getting as excited as Taylor, who seemed almost happy to have gotten knocked down, if only so he could show that he could get up. [Click Here To Read More]
Amir Khan did it against Marcos Maidana. Miguel Cotto did it against Ricardo Torres. Juan Manuel Marquez did it against Michael Katsidis.
And Jermain Taylor did it against Caleb Truax.
This is what great fighters must do. This is what Taylor had never been able to do before. He’d been knocked out by Kelly Pavlik. He’d been knocked down, then stopped by Carl Froch. And he’d been knocked unconscious by Arthur Abraham.
He’d never survived, never mind winning.
That is what great fighters must do, what Taylor had never done before the Truax fight. That is what gave Taylor reason to celebrate after he beat Truax on Saturday — coming off the canvas with two and a half minutes to go in the ninth round and holding on to win, both literally and figuratively.
“I’ve been knocked out four times, man. I’m not going no more,” Taylor said afterward. You’ll forgive him for forgetting the number of knockouts wrong. He was more focused on what he was getting right. “All the training I’m doing is paying off,” he said.
“I got back up and did my thing,” he said. “We worked on that all day. That’s all I’ve been thinking about was how I’m going to act when I get knocked down, if I get knocked down.”
You’ll forgive the rest of us for not getting as excited as Taylor, who seemed almost happy to have gotten knocked down, if only so he could show that he could get up. [Click Here To Read More]
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