Can you blame him? Jermaine Taylor is the official star of the new generation for boxing.
Taylor's not good enough to beat the top guys. But he is good enough to keep it close so the judges can continue to give him fights he didn't win b/c of his "agressiveness" and "youth" oh and let me not forget "great strength"
Uhm a lot of those straight rights were landing through the gaurd, and the hooks were landing behind winky's ear.
If you say that Taylor wasn't landing... when was the last time you've seen Winky's face look like that?
Uhm, you do realize there were about 3-5 clean hard headbutts in the fight? Or were you too busy being riveted by all the punches Taylor "landed" ?
I was about to log on and start this same exact thread.
I know Lampley isn't supposed to be the expert and call everything correctly. His job is to hype up the fight. Hell, I'll admit I love Lampley's hype. Some of my favs:
"What a great, great fight."
"Biggest punch of the fight!!!!" --> every fight
"And that's.......AMAZING!" -> Tarver knocking out Roy
"OHHHHH...OHHHH..WHAT A HUGE RIGHT HAND" --> B-hop on Trinidad
With all that said, I felt he's been terrible the last 3 Taylor fights. The hype machine is obviously behind Taylor but he makes it so blatant. Since Hopkins/Taylor 1 he has been screaming and overhyping Taylor "connects" and "combinations" that have been blocked and/or slipped.
It's so obvious it's sickening. Does he really think we're that stupid? Taylor hit a ton of gloves and arms today but I have to sit through Lampley screaming "Now 4 punches land in a row for Taylor, 5, 6, now 7 straight punches!!!" All glove, all blocked, all overhyped all night long.
Come on. I know Taylor is a star but cut it out. This is one of the main reasons I dislike Taylor. The HBO hype machine is sickening.
He's good enough to do it without the hype.
DLH is getting way too much credit. He's human just like the rest of us. There is too much $$$ on the table and it's a winnable fight.
As much as it's nice that he beat Mayorgra but he still only beat Mayorgra. Beating Floyd would be the true send off, that would be going out on top.
Imagine if B-hop ended his career with another rematch with Echols instead of taking on a real fight? It wouldn't feel the same.
I started respecting him during the Gatti fight. but he massacred that dude
It took you that long into his career to respect him?
There are guys I hate but 'game recognize game'
From a Wright perspective you have to fear a Hopkins-like bias. Taylor is the new bright star. His skills warrant this but he also has the machine behind him. He may get rounds on simply looking like he's doing damage and being aggressive. Similar to his fights with Hopkins.
Lampley, the judges, etc made way to much of him being the "aggressor" and "dominating the early rounds." A lot of those highlights from the Hopkins fight they use for the Taylor/Wright promos show this. You know the ones with B-hop falling into the ropes? That was a slip and a dodge of a punch.
You ever watch a fight with someone who isn't a boxing fan? You know, just a casual fan? They'll "oooooh" and "ahhhhh" at a flurry of punches until you show them in the replay how most of the punches were blocked and did little damage.