Newsflash: Taylor Gets December 4 date and opponent inside....

it's good to see that jt is back! Bored much?

it's good to see that jt is back!

Joppy, Soliman or Eastman would be perfectly legit opponents for Taylor.

thanks Bollocks (jeez that seems weird saying that :D :cool: ) I agree I was playing devils advocate a bit, re Taylor / Sturm, taylor has indeed been , how shall we put it very well matched, but Im still not convinced bout Sturm, he looks ok, but his lack of power could be a factor, he just doesnt excite me, mind you nor has Eastman for about 5 fights. to be honest the young guns should hang fire for a 9 months and scrap it out post hopkins retirement, thats what I would do if I were them Howard though doesnt have time on his side.

I'd be surprised if Taylor's ready to unsnap his pampers and fight Eastman. In fact, I'd be shocked. Taylor has been brought along very shrewdly.

I'd be surprised if Taylor's ready to unsnap his pampers and fight Eastman. In fact, I'd be shocked.

Eastman's promoter said that if Taylor doesn't take the elimination fight with Eastman, the WBC will enforce the fight between Hopkins v Eastman. So if Hopkins keeps to his principals, like he has done before. He will have to take on Eastman.

I just want to see Taylor face a legitimate MIDDLEWEIGHT. Washed-up 154lbers like Raul Marquez & Bunema leave a lot to be desired. Taylor LOOKS like the goods....but who he has looked like the goods against creates questions.

Well Im not sure Sturm is better than eastman? So if Howard is being touted then sturm should be in the mix. one disputed loss against an undertrained, opverweight and blase Oscar does not make you the worlds number one contender in my opinion. Apparently (according to Boxing news havent seen it) Sturm laboured to his latest win. and by the same token what has taylor done to merit being called number one contender? o i know hes big black and american hes beat up on guys in oscars situation only they werent near oscars caliber sturm would be good fight hes already been champ both are young and hungry sturm might have the technical edge here i dontthink taylors jab is that great he tends to throw it as a sort of back hand thats why no one knows how to see it comin and block it hes the roy jones of middle weights as far as opposition sturm on the other hand has a very good actual jab id pick sturm in this based on the fact it would be taylors first fight against a true middle and felix has been a champ already altho taylor might face his 1st true middle weight this dec i doubt it

who knows, he didnt do himself any favours in the joppy fight and he hasnt pushed himslef hard enough in his return in my opinion. But it would be a great shame for such a talented fighter to have only one shot at the title in his career, a career that has seen him ranked WBC number one for an age. A waste even.

WELL HE IS YET TO HAVE ONE FOR THREE YEARS! :eek: :( There maybe no hope for him at all then if nobody wants to give him a chance.

WELL HE IS YET TO HAVE ONE FOR THREE YEARS! :eek:

Well Im not sure Sturm is better than eastman? So if Howard is being touted then sturm should be in the mix. one disputed loss against an undertrained, opverweight and blase Oscar does not make you the worlds number one contender in my opinion. Apparently (according to Boxing news havent seen it) Sturm laboured to his latest win. Good points, hmmmmmm Howard should be able to get a good fight surely. With Jermain, Joppy, Sturm and Hopkins surely one of them will fight him.

Well Im not sure Sturm is better than eastman? So if Howard is being touted then sturm should be in the mix. one disputed loss against an undertrained, opverweight and blase Oscar does not make you the worlds number one contender in my opinion. Apparently (according to Boxing news havent seen it) Sturm laboured to his latest win.

Surpised no-one has mentioned Sturm as a potential opponent. To be honest i forgot about him, thats pretty bad really because he is a strong Middleweight fighter. Hmmmmmm that could be interesting although is Jermain at the Sturm level yet or does he need another slight test against someone like Joppy?

Surpised no-one has mentioned Sturm as a potential opponent.

Taylor fights Hopkins if and only if Bernard fights a while longer - like multiple years. Calling someone out to doesn't always mean you have any intention of fighting them. See Roy Jones in that dept. How many heavyweights and top contenders as he called out? See also Calzaghe. Hopkins realizes that Taylor is a lesser draw at this point than a Mayorga, Tarver, Wright, Mosley, etc., so there's less incentive to fight. Most boxing journalists still see Taylor as the "heir apparent" to the division, not an immediate threat. I can't see the fight happening anytime soon. THIS is what SHOULD be happening - a fight with Joppy. And anything less than a solid 117-111 type win means Taylor needs to step back for a minute and work on his game. I'll tell you what though - this guy destroyed Raul Marquez. He very well could TKO Joppy. If he does, he should go after what ever belt is the first to strip Hopkins.

Taylor Gets December 4 date. By G. LEON September 29th,2004- Reliable sources have informed boxingtalk.com that undefeated middleweight Jermain Taylor will return to hbo on december 4 on hbo. No opponent has been solidified but it will most likely be william joppy, Howard Eastman or sam soliman. Word is though HBO likes joppy, so he is probably the front runner to get the fight. Look forward to his fight. JT is a real star.

Well Wez as you know, boxing is a funny game when you are in your early 20s and shifting up the ladder you cant wait for your next fight, no matter who it is, bring em on, ship em in, and carry em out. When you reach world title contender status you go for that chance, he has been rebuilding against guys who quite simply cant get him up for the fight. Hopkins would do that for anothehr title shot but I think Hopkins would dismantle him by the middle rounds. Howard likeable as he is at times is too laid back for his own good. If he had more of a workrate and a bit more agression he could have been a champ for a long time himself. Unfortuantely cos of his nature he tends to wait and hold back a bit. Basically the fighters he has been up against in his last two fights have been euro level fighters and he cant be arsed would be my guess. to my mind after such a controverisal loss to Joppy he should have gone for another big name straight off, or a rematch, and made sure. Instead he took six months off to feed his freakin canaries in Guyana. Madness.

Yip thats a good eliminator between two of the top 5 middles in the world so why not. its the way it should be. So true, Howard Eastman does deserve a shot. Although i don't know what to make of Howard Eastman sometimes, he's seems abit too relaxed with his performances. How do you think he would do against Bernard Hopkins now? I think Bernard is too much for him still, there is a big step between Howard Eastman one of the best Middleweights out there and Bernard Hopkins the best Middleweight out there. The sad thing is that if Howard cannot beat him now then i don't think he'll ever beat him because Howard seems to have reached his peak. Although some would say he hasn't been pushed enough to excel further because of the lack of World class opposition. Basically all the rambling on i'm doing comes down to the point that i wasn't overly impressed with Howards last few performances, there is something about him that doesn't look right.