By Ja Lang G. Greene

Unwarranted, unnecessary, groundless, and unjustified can be words used to describe boxing fans’ criticism toward new middleweight king Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor. In consecutive fights, Taylor has defeated one of the top five middleweights in boxing history. Quick, name a fighter in the past twelve years that has looked “good” against Bernard Hopkins. The answer is no one. An argument could be made for Segundo Mercado, who battled Hopkins to a draw in 1994 and even dropped him twice. However in the rematch held a few months later, Hopkins stopped Mercado in impressive fashion and after the rematch, Segundo won only one more fight in his professional career. 

Over this period Hopkins won impressively over journeymen, B-level, and future hall of fame fighters such as John David Jackson, Glenn Johnson, Simon Brown, Antwun Echols, Keith Holmes, Felix Trinidad, William Joppy, Oscar De La Hoya, and Howard Eastman.

Since no fighter has looked good against Hopkins for over a decade after the Roy Jones Jr. fight, why is Taylor getting a bad wrap for beating the long time reigning champion back to back? Why is the public going to willingly spend $49.95 for De La Hoya’s next bout versus Ricardo Mayorga, when De La Hoya struggled against Felix Sturm and was KO’d by Hopkins in his last fight?

Jermain Taylor, on paper, has a lot of qualities that boxing needs to regain its position in the sports market and public landscape. No prison record, no outstanding paternity lawsuits, and no positive post fight drug tests. In fact Taylor had a solid amateur career punctuated with an Olympic birth, he is undefeated, and media friendly.

Yet in recent years it has become chic to bash any fighter that has promotional backing from large networks. With good reason, some fighters that networks have shoved down the public’s throat didn’t have the goods to back up the hype. This fallacy should not be cast on Taylor. It is important for boxing fans to fairly distinguish between fighters that have the goods and false products. Beating an all time great is a feat that not many fighters accomplish over a career. The list of boxers who have beaten greats such as Muhammad Ali, Ray Leonard, and Joe Louis are part of an exclusive fraternity. The list gets smaller if these fighters were required to have beaten those greats while in the midst of their primes.

Taylor displayed tremendous heart and veteran savvy in outlasting Hopkins in the first fight. Entering the bout as the challenger engaged in the biggest fight of his career, Taylor effectively controlled the pace of the bout against the seasoned champ over the first six rounds. Taylor did fall apart down the stretch, but showed true grit and toughness by walking through fire in the last few rounds surviving the methodically planned onslaught from the executioner.

Most fighters would have withered, quit, or got on their bicycle just to go the distance, however, the new champion stayed in the pocket and earned his stripes. Going into the second fight with the end of his legacy/era hanging in the balance and the distinct knowledge that he would have to start faster to regain his middleweight championship, Hopkins proceeded to imitate the style of the first fight by falling behind early and not being able to muster enough to eke out a decision. This time the decision was unanimous and not as disputable. There is a reason why Hopkins could not get started earlier and it wasn’t old age.

The nature of the sport dictates most of this criticism. Revisionist history is rampant in boxing. It is the reason why Hagler – Leonard continues to get closer as the years go by, and it is also the reason why most are starting to jump on the bandwagon that Winky Wright was robbed against Fernando Vargas a few years ago.

Remember it wasn’t until Hopkins beat Tito that people started giving the proper respect to one of the greatest at 160. After twenty five professional fights and only twenty seven years of age, it is too early to criticize a fighter at the beginning of his professional journey while he is trying to etch his own legacy in the history books. Especially since up until this point all challenges and bridges thrown at the new champ have been successfully crossed.

Jermain Taylor should be “credited” for ending one of the most remarkable streaks in any professional sport, not “criticized.”

Feel free to send your comments to JaLangGreene@boxingscene.com