By Mark Vester
Former middleweight champ Jermain Taylor (27-2, 17KOs) is still focused on facing his former Olympic teammate Jeff Lacy (23-1, 17KOs). Steve Kim of MaxBoxing/BoxingScene.com was informed that Taylor's return is still on schedule to land in November on HBO. Taylor would like for Lacy to be on the opposite side of the ring. WBC/WBA super flyweight champ Cristian Mijares is a possibility to open up the show.
A number of opponents have been discussed for Taylor's return, including Felix Trinidad, Ricardo Mayorga and Brian Vera, but Lacy appears to be the frontrun favorite. Trinidad turned down the fight, Mayorga is headed to a possibly October showdown with Shane Mosley. That leaves Lacy and Vera as the choices from the original batch of guys.
Golden Boy was presented with an offer by Taylor's promoter Lou DiBella, and he's interested, but wants a tuneup to come off before a Taylor fight takes place.
"I'd be interested in taking that fight with Jermain Taylor at the end of the year, but if we can't get a pretty good tune-up fight before that, it will be sometime next year he and I will square off," Lacy told writer Eddie Daniels a few weeks back.
Lacy's tuneup may not happen until August, according to some, and could leave enough time to meet Taylor in November. Vera and his team have been calling pretty hard for the Taylor fight to happen, calling him out in a press release issued earlier this week. Vera, who appeared on the "Contender" reality show, scored a big upset by stopping top prospect Andy Lee earlier this year.
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