If a 100,000 million dollar promotional contract gets him in the ring with Pacquiao, I think alot of people will care. The fight isn't worth what it's worth because no one cares.
You can't blame Manny for the outcome.
One thing I did notice from the short clip of the fight, is that both fighters looked pretty slow and telegraphed their punches. :boxing:
I don't know if I agree with that. I'd say that JT was much quicker than Pavlik but really didn't make it matter enough. He focused on counterpunching and I think he was pretty effective at doing that. But just not enough, and Pavlik's stiff left jab was doing damage consistently over time.
There were points in the fight where you really had to think about how Pavlik could win with such a speed difference. But when you let yourself get backed into the corner all night, that speed isn't as effective. He kept on letting Kelly get too close, instead of using his speed to keep him at bay with the jab.
I don't believe that the strategy was to trade blows with Pavlik. The strategy seemed to be for JT to counterpunch. Pavlik uses the jab to set up his right hand. JT seemed to be waiting for Pavlik to throw the right, and then he'd slip and counterpunch with a combination. With Pavlik's deadly right dodged, it's much safer to attack Pavlik. It's not a bad strategy and when done correctly it was effective.
But leaving your left hand at your waist really puts the odds on getting clocked much higher. He played with fire.
I will however agree with you that this strategy was not the best strategy that could have been used. But, it made for a more entertaining fight - cause I think the right strategy for Taylor would be to move and jab - which would have frustrated Pavlik more and made for a less explosive fight. He might have won on the cards in that fight.
Manny didn't screw up Taylor.
I'll guarantee you that Manny wasn't telling JT to keep his hand down by his waist. I guarantee you that Manny was encouraging him to use his jab consistently and as usual JT didn't listen.
Manny did what they wanted him to do to promote the fight. I have a hard time believing that he truly wasn't worried about Pavlik's power.
If the fightplan was to counterpunch Pavlik, that actually was a good strategy. But I gotta believe that Manny wasn't telling him to let himself get backed up into a corner. In fact after the 3rd round, he started to become a little more aggressive about trying to get out of the corner when he ended up there. I gotta believe that Manny talked to him about how dangerous that was.
In the end, he got jacked up in the corner with his left hand near his waist. Like that wasn't begging to happen for 4 rounds. JT just thinks he can get away with it because he's the champ.... er.. because he WAS the champ.
I don't think anyone can blame Manny. Fighter has to follow his trainer's instructions.
Agreed...as to your last paragraph. I mean it was stupid to play Pavlik's game. It was just plain arrogant.
The left hand thing...well it was up and down. But, the real problem I saw was Pavlik's jab. Taylor's left hand did not expose him to this. The strategy was to stand and counterpunch..ie..trade..relying on Taylor's athleticism to slip Pavlik's right and then counter it. But, Pavlik's jab forced the issue. When that started hitting home, the right hand was sure to follow with a wallop.
Can't argue with that. I think JT and Manny thoroughly underestimated the effectiveness of Pavlik's jab. The right side of JT's face after the fight speaks volumes about about the effectiveness of that jab. When you are worrying about that jab, you are more prone to get popped with that right.
I think pointing out that Pavlik was 17 when he got beat by Taylor who was 21 is a pretty important piece of information. Taylor also had more experience at that point.
Even more interesting is that Taylor won on the scorecards in that bout... hmmmm. If he couldn't knock him out when he was 17 and had the distinct advantage, what do you say the chances are now ?
I think if anyone is putting any weight into the "he beat him before" concept they might just be as surprised as Jermain Taylor is going to be when he realizes he believes in ghosts.