By Rick Reeno
Photo © Javiel Centeno/FightWireImages.com
Former junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma moves up to the middleweight division to face one of the hardest punchers at 160-pounds, WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor.
Taylor, is by far the biggest test for Ouma, who is outsized and outgunned in the bout. Ouma is not the largest junior middleweight, and could probably make the welterweight limit in order to make a fight. Taylor is a very large middleweight, and has said in the past that he is close to moving up to the super middleweight division to ease the strain of having to make 160-pounds.
The bout with Winky Wright has hurt Taylor's stock among boxing experts and some fans. Not because the bout was not exciting, but because the majority of boxing fans felt that Wright did enough to win. Taylor knows that he did not execute the proper game plan in the ring, and was matched with Ouma to look impressive to the HBO audience.
Ouma has the heart and the skill to beat most junior middleweights. Against Taylor his come forward style will play right into Jermain's hands. Ouma does not know how to switch up his style, which overwhelms most opponents. Most of his opponents were not as big or strong as Jermain Taylor. Size is not the only issue because Taylor is also a skilled boxer and has a pistol hard jab.
Oscar De La Hoya found out a few years ago when he moved up to 160-pounds and fough two bouts, against Felix Sturm and Bernard Hopkins. He barely beat Sturm and got knocked out for the first time in his career against Hopkins. De La Hoya, a very skilled fighter was simply too small to compete with fighters at the middleweight level. Taylor-Ouma will follow a similiar script.
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