By Cliff Rold
Two undefeated fighters doing battle is always something special. The sense that two warriors, neither knowing how to lose, will give the sport, the night, a little more of themselves in pursuit of victory palpably hangs in the air, an extra ingredient to the recipe for assumed violence.
29-year old World Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-0-1, 17 KO) of Little Rock, Arkansas and electrifying contender Kelly Pavlik (31-0, 27 KO, #3 Ring Magazine, age 25) of Youngstown, Ohio both enter the ring this Saturday without having suffered defeat. In this storied division, it is a rarer quality in championship fare than one might assume.
In fact, only one other time have two men without a loss done battle for the true middleweight crown.
That’s a testament to how hard it’s been to climb this particular mountain. When one considers the epic proportions of middleweight kings past, men like “The Nonpareil” Jack Dempsey, Harry Greb, Carlos Monzon, Marvin Hagler and a man named Robinson, being undefeated might not be all it’s cracked to be.
It’s nothing to sneeze at either.
In conversation earlier this week, Taylor promoter Lou DiBella was certainly excited about the possibilities. “This is a classic matchup. Two young, undefeated fighters; a guy that is the only legitimate linear Middleweight champion fighting a number one contender with a tremendous amount of power.”
Adding to this dimension is that, in the history of the gloved middleweight division, only 3 men have even reached the undisputed, lineal throne without suffering at least a single loss. Taylor is one of those men.
The other two locked horns on May 10, 1991.
On that first, other if you will, occasion, boxing was treated to one of the great middleweight upsets and indeed fights. Waged on the banks of the Mississippi River at John O’Donnell Stadium in Davenport, Iowa, James Toney, then 25-0-1, began his still-continuing ascent to the Hall of Fame by knocking off champion Michael Nunn before the champion’s home crowd. It would be Nunn’s first loss in 37 bouts.
That Taylor-Pavlik carries some similarities to that battle, in tone if not style, adds to the existing drama of the event.
Nunn, largely forgotten today, was in 1991 still a contender for the title of pound-for-pound king, ranked #3 by Ring Magazine heading into the Toney defense. A 6’3 southpaw, Nunn had incredible speed and boxing ability to go with occasional flashes of frightening power. Turned pro in 1984, Nunn sizzled on the way to capturing the lineal crown, vacated by Sugar Ray Leonard in 1987, defeating defensive genius Sumbu Kalambay with a devastating one-punch, one-minute knockout in 1989.
Like Taylor today, winning the title proved to be both curse and gift. While blessed with some of the best natural talent ever seen at 160 lbs., Nunn languished through three title defenses following the Kalambay bout. He captured majority decisions against rugged Iran Barkley and then-lineal World Welterweight champion Marlon Starling in fights so dull that some have yet to arise from the comas they induced. HBO chose not to broadcast his next defense, a stoppage of former welter king Donald Curry, and the question marks remained.
The paying public wasn’t paying much attention and Nunn-Toney was sent to the smaller field of pay-per-view, the second TVKO broadcast following the smashing success of Evander Holyfield-George Foreman.
The 2000 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist Taylor, since winning a disputed decision for the title against Bernard Hopkins, has faced similar difficulty in winning over the public. Nunn followed a legendary era spearheaded by Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler and suffered in comparison; Taylor knocked off a living legend in less than convincing fashion and followed it with bouts where he was less than the perfection Hopkins had brought to the ring for years.
A rematch win over Hopkins and an excellent action draw with former World Jr. Middleweight king Winky Wright have been followed with dull decision victories over Kasim Ouma and former World Welterweight champion Cory Spinks. Unlike Nunn, his championship reign has remained an HBO staple and, to the sports benefit, this bout is being given the largest possible audience rather than risking the smallest.
Smart move. Nunn-Toney legendarily did a buy rate of virtually nada; most people have still never seen the fight though it can be found on YouTube. Taylor-Pavlik will get more viewers for the ads the week of the fight then Nunn-Toney got for their actual live fight. That’s to be celebrated not only in comparison to the past but in comparison to the modern boxing market that is flooded with pay-per-views of varying quality.
“This is a rare opportunity to see a fight of this caliber on premium cable anymore.” Dibella stated. “This is a fight that very easily could have been on pay-per-view and there was an effort on the part of everyone to make it available. From our standpoint, this is Jermain’s best way of getting the most exposure possible.”
Still, it can’t be ignored that, in all but the Ouma bout, vocal contingents without official scorecards have declared Taylor a loser in some if not all his fights (myself included - I had him losing and drawing with Hopkins; defeating Wright by a single point and losing to Spinks badly). Like Nunn, Taylor needs a win and a win that everyone is glad they saw.
In contrast, Pavlik has risen through the ranks in a fashion similar to Toney if with more fanfare going into his biggest test. A pro since 2000, Pavlik got some notice as a prospect to watch, just like Toney did, both lingering on the fringes with occasional appearances on basic cable outlets and a steady development period. Toney got to Nunn in his fourth year as a pro; Pavlik arrives slower at almost seven years.
In further parallel, both entered their shot at the title off of rugged bouts against brawling Latino contenders (Toney got a draw against Merqui Sosa in a bout he pretty clearly won; Pavlik stopped red hot contender Edison Miranda in a war last May on the undercard of Taylor-Spinks).
Unlike Toney, Pavlik enters the ring with a perceived chance to win. One could argue that Nunn never really saw Toney coming, picking on a perceptually inexperienced pro for a hometown defense. Taylor knows Pavlik from the amateurs, knows that many expect this to be his end as champion, and appears ready to bring his A-game.
It’s hard to fathom now, given that Toney is headed to Canastota and Nunn is serving a lengthy prison sentence for drug charges, but Toney was given almost no shot against Nunn. The action in the ring through the first seven rounds of their bout was evidence of why; Nunn, with his back against the wall, was brilliant over the first half of the fight. His jab, footwork and left hand found their mark and dominated the action. Toney had his moments but that’s all they were.
Toney though never stopped coming forward, never stopped applying pressure, never quit. He had come to win and in the eighth began to put the pieces in place to do so. His body attack and right hand began to find their mark against the tiring champion and by the eleventh round it had evolved into a classic; it finished as one as well. Toney caught Nunn with one of the great left hooks ever thrown, a picturesque bomb that dropped the taller man to the deck. Nunn rose and faltered under the heavy hands and will of Toney who forced the stoppage.
If Taylor-Pavlik is more anticipated than Nunn-Toney was going in, and it is by a wide margin, it’s because there is a sense that a drama similar to that classic awaits the world this weekend. Action wise it could be more than that; neither Taylor nor Pavlik is the stylist that Toney or Nunn was. That could mean hell for both men and heaven for viewers. While Taylor can be technically and athletically sharper, Pavlik’s intensity and the bad intentions on his right hand raise the pulse for fight fans that like their blood spilled and flowing freely.
Team Pavlik likes their man’s chances. Conversation with Pavlik’s manager Cameron Dunkin earlier this week revealed a camp that is both relaxed and excited. Dunkin pointed out that Pavlik is lighter a week out from the fight than he’s ever been before at 163 lbs. and that his sparring has been top notch, including work with the son of a former World Cruiserweight champion, Carlos De Leon Jr. (19-1-2, 12 KO), a light heavyweight.
I asked Dunkin about recent statements in the press from both Taylor and his trainer Emanuel Steward that seem to downgrade Pavlik, essentially referring to him as a one-hit wonder based on his win over Miranda. Dunkin seemed to dismiss those statements as an attempt to build bravado in Team Taylor, adding that Steward had tried, prior to joining Taylor, to come on board as Pavlik’s trainer, even going so far as to call him a ‘white Tommy Hearns.’
Perhaps more telling about Team Pavlik’s confidence is that Dunkin was willing to look ahead. Often in sports, athletes and their management will refuse to look ahead but Dunkin has a future in mind. He mentioned multiple options should Pavlik win the title, from likely big-money winnable bouts against the original “Contender” Sergio Mora and Irishman John Duddy, to the division’s other most dangerous man, Armenian Arthur Abraham (24-0, 19 KO, #2, IBF titlist).
DiBella was also willing to ponder the future, showing no shortage of confidence in his young champion. “When Jermain beats Pavlik, we’re looking at pay-per-view fights on the horizon. Whether it be the Roy Jones-(Felix)Trinidad winner or one of those two if that fight doesn’t happen; or Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Mikkel Kessler, Antonio Tarver; there are big, big fights out there for Jermain.”
Dibella also added this nugget. “By the way, we’re not announcing that (Taylor) is giving up the Middleweight title yet because he had no problems making weight this time.” This is significant given pre-fight declarations to the contrary. DiBella though did make clear that it is still a probable scenario that Taylor, with a win, exits 160. “Obviously we’re going to look at big opportunities and Jermain’s a big kid…right now, we’re looking forward to next week for Jermain to show once again what he’s made of.”
“Right now there is a very, very big fight for boxing…I think this is the kind of fight style wise that is going revive some interest in the sport and be successful for so many people because it’s live on HBO.”
No matter what happens, it’ll always have that over Michael Nunn-James Toney.
And More: For further thoughts on this fight of the spoken word variety, you can click here for my Tuesday appearance on the Max Kellerman radio show: http://espn-mp3-od.andomedia.com/stations/.../070925_max.mp3
The Pick: Obviously, I’d be remiss to go through all the history and minutiae surrounding this contest and not offer a pick. It should be a simple pick given the greater speed, much greater level of competition, and superior jab of Taylor but Taylor hasn’t used that jab enough in a while and his speed hasn’t kept his back off the ropes often enough either. More significant, despite what has been seen on the HBO Countdown show, it’s hard to believe that the corner drama of Taylor-Spinks, with Steward hollering and Taylor looking frustrated, has been totally ironed out.
Taylor, like Nunn before him, may have lost a little of his ring identity as a fighter in the pursuit of stardom. If that’s the case, he’s in for a world of trouble because Pavlik is a nightmare for a fighter who doesn’t know exactly who he is. Pavlik is a pressuring, murderous puncher; the kind of fighter that Larry Merchant might refer to as a ‘truth machine.’ His jab, while slower, is as effective in its own way as Taylor’s and Pavlik showed the ability to pick off shots against Miranda.
So, tentatively and without surprise if I’m wrong, I have to go with Pavlik this weekend, let’s say by ninth round stoppage.
Cliff’s Notes…
The 0’s: Before some smart ass e-mails me to point out that there have been other fights for middleweight belts between undefeated fighters (Frank Tate-Nunn, William Joppy-Shinji Takehara, Lonnie Bradley-Dario Galindez, Harry Simon-Armand Kranjc, and Arthur Abraham-Edison Miranda), understand the difference between fighting for “a” title and “The” title. Nunn-Toney was, and Taylor-Pavlik is, “The.” For all others, see “a.” That said, it should perk the ears and eyes that whether we’re talking “The” or “a” all but one of these fights, Simon-Kranjc, ended with a knockout…
Dawson: You have to wonder if light heavyweight Chad Dawson (24-0, 16 KO, #5, WBC titlist) is cursed right now; two fights in a row have come on Showtime on nights when much bigger fights (Miguel Cotto-Zab Judah and now Taylor-Pavlik) seemingly made this 24-year old stud invisible. That his foe for this night, undefeated Romanian Adrian Diaconu (24-0, 15 KO, #9), dropped out with an injury doesn’t help matters.
What would help is if his promoter Gary Shaw can start maximizing the audience for this kid. Make no bones about it: Dawson might be the best young contender at light-heavyweight since the early days of Virgil Hill and Michael Moorer and he is the primary threat to Ring Magazine titlist Bernard Hopkins and lineal World champion Zsolt Erdei. With all the action going on below him at 160 and 168 lbs., Dawson has to be in the right position to be a pot of gold on the weight scale rainbow. His talent alone makes the thought of bouts like Dawson versus Calzaghe, Taylor, Pavlik or Kessler mouth watering.
That said, at least Shaw is keeping him active and got him an intriguing potential spoiler in hard punching Epifanio Mendoza (28-4, 24 KO, unrated). Too many young contenders are allowed in the modern era to rot on the vine. No quality fighter under the age of thirty should ever, barring injury, fight any less than three times a year.
Final flurry: 7-foot mammoth Russian heavyweight Nicolay Valuev (46-1, 34 KO, #5) returns this Saturday against undefeated 6’5 Canadian Jean-Francois Bergeron (27-0, 19 KO, unrated) in a fight you’ll miss if you don’t live in Germany or lack the internet resources to check it out. Too bad; it’s not a bad fight for heavyweights…Also going overseas this weekend, Yorkshire, UK to be exact, light heavyweight Clinton Woods (40-3-1, 24 KO, #3, IBF titlist) tries to extend his winning streak to six in a rematch of a previous wide decision victory over former lineal World champion Julio Gonzalez (41-3, 25 KO, #7). A loss here could mark the end for one of these aging warriors. Thanks for the memories Julio…Finally, don’t dawdle tuning into HBO. Welterweight prospect and 2004 Olympian Andre Berto (19-0, 16 KO) faces his toughest test yet against game veteran David Estrada (21-3, 12 KO) in the televised opener. While it’s unlikely that Estrada has the pop to drop Berto like his last foe, Cosme Rivera, did, he still has the experience to dictate a grueling night…And with that, folks, the drought is over. For those who love boxing, and have missed it the last month or so, get ready. Starting this weekend and straight though to Mayweather-Hatton in December, boxing is about to turn out its hottest lineup in years. If you’re not excited, get off the meds.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
