My take PRE Hop/Taylor!

OK, so I wrote this up a couple months before Taylor/Hopkins and was hesitating on posting it as I was hoping it would get some interest as a result of some emails I had sent out... Since that turned out to be the case I will post it now that the fight is over and it would be without use anyway, haha. Some of it rings pretty true I guess.... ----------------------------------------------------------- A PREVIEW OF HOPKINS VS TAYLOR May 24'th 2005 Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins will soon be making the twenty-first defense of his middleweight title against 2000 Olympian Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor. In doing so, the man who has ruled the middleweight division for over eleven years will be meeting the one who many have dubbed as being that division’s next great champion. Their upcoming fight marks a significant moment for the future of the hundred and sixty pound division, a meeting of the recent past and the near future. For Hopkins, the finishing touches of his legacy are at stake, while Taylor is looking to seize the throne from Hopkins and begin a legacy of his own. Coming from the streets of Philadelphia, Bernard Hopkins has had to earn every ounce of respect he has gotten throughout his career. The Executioner’s cerebral style of fighting has at times exasperated fans and opponents alike. Like a chess player, Hopkins plans every move well in advance, he does not take unnecessary risks, and has earned the reputation for being rough and occasionally what some would describe as dirty on the inside. In Taylor, Hopkins may be facing his most formidable opponent since he fought Felix Trinidad, knocking him out in twelve rounds. At the very least, Taylor has the most potential of any Hopkins opponent since he fought Roy Jones Jr in 1994, a fight which marks his last loss. While fans have made the occasional gripe about Hopkins’ refusal to take risks in the ring, no complaints can be made about this match up. This is the fight that fans have long wanted to see at middleweight, and Hopkins along with Golden Boy Promotions worked hard to make it. Hopkins promised his mother that he would not fight past forty, an age at which he now sits. So it would seem that there are few bouts left in his career, but if this is to be one of the Executioner’s final fights, then he has chosen to go out with a bang. Jermain Taylor, who hails from Little Rock, Arkansas, has had expectations heaped onto him since he won the bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics. His natural talent, amiable personality, and good looks have caused people to label him as a superstar to be. Taylor has showed excellent hand speed, a stiff jab, and above-average power as he blazed his way to a perfect 23-0 record. His biggest wins to date have been a near shut-out of the aging middleweight contender William Joppy, and a five round knockout of the always exciting, if somewhat limited, Daniel Edouard. But fans have yet to see Taylor truly tested, and have been calling for him to step up his level of competition for a few fights now. Taylor has heard these critics, and by agreeing to fight Bernard Hopkins he has finally silenced them. The talented young prospect has finally stepped from the shallow waters of the middleweight division into the deep end of the swimming pool. The question which remains to be answered is whether it will be the ever calculating style and experience of Hopkins, or the raw talent and youth of Taylor, that will ultimately prevail in this contest. If Taylor is going to accomplish the feat that so many before him have failed to, and defeat Bernard Hopkins, then he likely will have to try to jump on him early and set the pace for the fight from the opening bell on. It would be a mistake for Taylor to try to wait for Hopkins to tire in the later rounds. A huge part of a Hopkins victory will be if the fight is fought at his pace, if he is able to conserve his energy and pick his shots then he will be able to neutralize whatever supposed advantage that Taylor’s youth brings. Hopkins likely will try to control the pace by fighting in bursts, pot-shoting and countering Taylor from the outside. However, it will be when they get inside that Hopkins will really be in his element as he will also roughing Taylor up when they get in close. This style has proven to be very effective and it will be interesting to see how Taylor responds when Hopkins bends the rules a little when they are outside the referee’s line of sight. What Taylor should try to do is control the fight by throwing his signature jab to set up power shots and by working the body every chance he gets. Hopkins has yet to show real stamina problems late in fights- despite his age, and Taylor is going to have to put in some good body work early if he expects Hopkins to fade late. Essentially, whoever comes out and exerts their will early, dictating the pace of the fight in the first few rounds, should have an advantage in this one. If Taylor can see to it that it is an up-tempo fight, where he is able to throw a lot of punches and land from the outside, then he should hold an advantage. But if Hopkins can do to Taylor what he has done to many opponents, and control the pace by being elusive and catching them coming in, then it is to see anything but another victim for the Executioner. No matter who ends up winning this fight, the implications for the future of the middleweight division are resounding. A Taylor victory will mark the passing of the torch from one generation to the next, a new age in boxing. If Hopkins wins it will mean that it is back to the drawing board for Jermain and will be the cherry on top of Bernard’s already fabulous career. Either way, the untested prodigy and the aging champion have been traveling down their respective roads for some time now, on a collision course with one another. And when they meet at the crossroads of the MGM Grand Casino on July 16th, it should prove to be one hell of a crash.