Jermain Taylor’s Message to Froch: "The Party is Over!"
By Terence Dooley
Carl Froch’s April 25th away-day assignment against American fighter Jermain Taylor is interesting for a number of reasons.
Firstly, Froch will travel to Connecticut’s Foxwoods Resort Casino to defend his WBC super middleweight title. Carl and his team came off second best during the negotiations for this contest, as evidenced by their having to travel, and, as of writing, the disgraceful lack of British TV coverage for the contest.
Froch is taking a strange step for a British boxer. Higher profile fighters have been content to sit on WBU and WBO belts, defending in the UK against a motley crew of challengers, with the TV networks coughing up for those fights in the past.
Also, Froch holds the most prestigious belt in the division, although that is not saying much these days. Still, Froch is travelling to Taylor’s backyard in order to make this fight, and you have to extend respect to the Nottingham man for that, not many title-holders would take this risk.
BoxingScene.com caught up with Taylor to find out why this fight is essential viewing, and why it should not be allowed to slip under the British TV radar.
First things first, Taylor holds two wins over Bernard Hopkins. The first win saw Hopkins lose for the first time in 26 fights. Bernard lost his undisputed middleweight title in the process.
A late charge on the part of Hopkins, coupled with a negative final few rounds from Taylor, led to controversy over the decision win. The two men fought a rematch, and the result was the same, a points win for Taylor. Taylor stood up to ‘The Executioner’ in the late rounds this time, though, winning a close decision over the refocused Hopkins.
In doing this Taylor twice achieved what Joe Calzaghe managed just once, defusing and defeating the tricky Hopkins. Calzaghe’s win over Bernard kick-started the wave of praise rolling over the Welshman in recent times, so the same praise should be extended to Taylor.
Distance fights against Winky Wright, Kassim Ouma and Corey Spinks, all southpaws, followed the Hopkins couplet. Taylor won two of the above contests, drawing with Wright in his first title defence. Such was the awkward nature of the guy in the other corner the bouts themselves were squeakers, with Taylor failing to shine all of the time.
I asked Jermain if these fights had blunted his post-Hopkins edge, he said: "Well, I will answer your question this way. Since I fought Hopkins I have fought nothing but top ranked fighters, men who would give anybody a hard fight.
"Yes I do think my edge was taken away in those fights. Styles make fights and Spinks and Ouma can make anyone look a little dull. They both also happen to be very good southpaws, these are difficult guys to fight."
In the interim Kelly Pavlik was tearing up trees, ripping Edison Miranda to pieces to cement his standing as Taylor’s number one contender. Instead of taking a gimme, Jermain went straight into a contest with the heavy-hitting Pavlik.
Their first contest was one for the ages. Pavlik was floored heavily in the second round, before regrouping to score a stunning seventh-round KO.
A rematch saw Taylor lose on points in a moral-boosting performance; he then went onto fight, and defeat Jeff Lacy, before entering into negotiations with Froch, who excelled, from an offensive perspective at least, in his title win over Jean Pascal.
Froch is a confident character to say the least, his tongue-in-cheek statements can seem bold, almost arrogant, but they are generally delivered with a twinkle and a smile. I asked Jermain if he had been surprised by Froch’s pre-fight verbal assaults, Taylor said: "No, I’m not really surprised by his confidence.
“Carl Froch is the WBC Super Middleweight Champion and he has never lost a fight. He’s a cocky fighter and I love that because he doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into in this fight. I don't see how he could not be confident. I would expect that type of confidence from a champion. My job is to take that confidence away from him, and I will do that.
"I don't believe he has the skill-set to beat me. Carl has not fought the level of competition I have (fought), and it will show in the fight."
The first Pavlik fight prompted Taylor to make a change; Emmanuel Steward, who guided Taylor from the Wright fight onwards, was out, long-term friend and amateur coach Ozell Nelson was brought in. Taylor told me that: "Ozell Nelson is my trainer and he's been with me from day one. We are on schedule and training is going great.
“I’m training harder than I’ve ever trained before. I haven’t trained this hard in a long time. Froch may be looking at me getting tired in those other fights and is preparing for that. You know what? Those types of performance are the past. I have got a chance, and I’m going to take it.
“Regarding Manny (Steward), I have nothing but respect for him. He is a Hall of Fame trainer and I learned a lot from my short time with him. We are friends. It just didn't click in the corner."
One worry in recent times was the absence of Taylor’s jab, as well as a cessation of his body punching. The jab, however, was the biggest loss; a shot that floored Nicolas Cervera in contention was largely absent during Taylor’s title reign. I asked Taylor if the jab would be making a comeback in this contest, he confirmed that it would be: "Yes, I will be using that jab all night long. I will also be bringing a lot of firepower into that ring on April 25th."
Taylor stopped short when asked about his plans for the fight, not wanting to give too much away: "I really don't want to give away any secrets or my game plan as to what I see as a plus or minus in the style of Froch.
"I have seen some of his fights and as I mention before I don't think he has the skill-set to beat me. He’s rangy. He moves and fights with a lot of strength. I don’t think he’s fast. I think he’s too slow.
“I don't take anything for granted, and I don't worry about things going into a fight. Preparation is the key. I will be well prepared and I am focussed for this fight."
Froch is a career-long super-middleweight. Taylor moved into the division proper in his win over Lacy (the Pavlik rematch was fought at 164lb). From Taylor’s perspective, however, size is an issue for Froch in this contest: "Actually, Froch is not bigger than me, despite what people think or say. I'm bigger than Carl. Look at the tale of the tape.
“If he was bigger it wouldn’t mean anything anyway. I’m going to be boxing and moving. I’ll just go in there and box the hell out of him. I feel a lot stronger at 168. I have the body frame to carry that weight. I probably fought a little too long at 160, and it affected my performances."
The intangibles make this fight interesting: Can Froch cut it at this level? Will the British fighter bring his domestic form to the USA? How much desire does Jermain Taylor have left? How much does Taylor have in the tank?
For Taylor there is one answer to both of my questions, as he told BBN: "There is still a lot more left in Jermain Taylor. Losing the title to Kelly Pavlik opened my eyes. Sometimes you don't know what you have until you lose it. I want to be world champion, and I'm hungry for it again."
As mentioned above that hunger was dulled in recent years, the run of fights against Wright, Ouma and Spinks saw Taylor perform listlessly, this prompted some abuse from Internet-based fans, when asked if he felt hard done by Taylor looked to the positives that boxing brings, he said: "I don't think I have been harshly done by in the sport of boxing.
“Boxing has been good to me and I have been able to provide for my family because of boxing. Everybody likes a winner and when you lose a fight, or don't put in a good performance, people say things. It comes with the territory.
“I just know that the hard work will pay off in this fight. Regarding the few fights I lost. I not only let myself down. I let my fans down. I let my hometown down. I just want to get these belts back, and all of that will be erased. That’s what I love about boxing because you’re never out of it, you get chances.”
Finally, I asked Taylor if he had a message for his small band of British supporters, he did, a brief one: "I appreciate all your support and I will give you something to cheer about on April 25th!"
Also, any message for the Froch fans, he told them, and Froch, that: "The party is over!
"I'm not a trash talker and I don’t go around making predictions, but I will tell you this…I'm confident about victory!"
Coda:
Froch needs to win this fight; losing the title in his first contest would be a massive blow. It was hard enough for Froch to secure the Taylor fight when holding the belt; a defeat would send Carl out into the wilderness.
Taylor also needs to win; he needs to regain the magic touch that took him to a brace of victories over Hopkins, that is not all, either, one senses that Taylor sees this as his chance to make a big statement. The WBC title is Taylor’s passport to some big fights, fights that will give him a chance to put the polish back on his career.
Over the course of his career Taylor has reminded this writer of Mark Breland, both are undoubted talents, but they often tantalise us with their ability, looking fluid and strong, and then looking ragged and fragile.
Breland’s unbeaten record was ripped away by Marlon Starling. Mark regrouped by taking Starling the distance in a moral-boosting drawn rematch. Breland’s rehabilitation was completed when he hammered Britain’s Lloyd Honeyghan into defeat, hurting Lloyd with the jab in the process. There are a few omens there.
For his part, Froch is the pure heart and soul of boxing, taking his lumps in the Pascal fight. What he lacks in talent, and a defence, he makes up for with desire and offensive prowess.
You cannot ignore Taylor’s credentials, though, and the man who negotiated Hopkins, hit Wright more often than is usually the case and went straight back in with Pavlik should have too much for Froch.
With Showtime televising in the States, the fighters talking it up, and the fight intriguing the Internet fans the stage is well and truly set, hopefully the contest will take place on UK TV sets. It is too small to generate big bucks, too big to slip the net, someone needs to pull their finger out, and get a deal in place.