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By TK Stewart - Stick around the game of boxing for a while and nothing is good enough anymore.
Undefeated champions become nothing more than “untested and unproven” promotional creations. Everyone is calling the largest selling pay-per-view match in boxing history a “stink fight” that didn’t live up to its hype. There are too many titles, too many divisions and everyone from the alphabet sanctioning bodies to the networks to the promoters are “greedy, incompetent or corrupt.”
And don’t forget the often-uttered barb; “Boxing is dead”.
For undefeated Middleweight champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor, who is forced to fight opponents in the ring and the muckrakers outside of it, even winning isn’t good enough anymore.
Boxing writers, fans and those who lurk in the Internet chat rooms and criticize from behind far away keyboards say that Jermain Taylor winning close decisions just isn’t going to cut it. They say Jermain Taylor has to look spectacular and that he’s been involved in too many close decisions for their liking. They say he’s being paid too much - to fight opponents who are too little. Playing on his nickname, they’ve taken to calling him “Bad Impressions” Taylor and “Bad Decisions” Taylor.
He’s now two years into a middleweight title reign that shows two disputed decision wins over certain hall of fame inductee Bernard Hopkins. Then there was the draw against the always perplexing southpaw with a defense just as puzzling named Winky Wright. After that came another decision win against the smallish, lefty Kassim Ouma who most thought Taylor should have been able to easily knock out. [details]
Undefeated champions become nothing more than “untested and unproven” promotional creations. Everyone is calling the largest selling pay-per-view match in boxing history a “stink fight” that didn’t live up to its hype. There are too many titles, too many divisions and everyone from the alphabet sanctioning bodies to the networks to the promoters are “greedy, incompetent or corrupt.”
And don’t forget the often-uttered barb; “Boxing is dead”.
For undefeated Middleweight champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor, who is forced to fight opponents in the ring and the muckrakers outside of it, even winning isn’t good enough anymore.
Boxing writers, fans and those who lurk in the Internet chat rooms and criticize from behind far away keyboards say that Jermain Taylor winning close decisions just isn’t going to cut it. They say Jermain Taylor has to look spectacular and that he’s been involved in too many close decisions for their liking. They say he’s being paid too much - to fight opponents who are too little. Playing on his nickname, they’ve taken to calling him “Bad Impressions” Taylor and “Bad Decisions” Taylor.
He’s now two years into a middleweight title reign that shows two disputed decision wins over certain hall of fame inductee Bernard Hopkins. Then there was the draw against the always perplexing southpaw with a defense just as puzzling named Winky Wright. After that came another decision win against the smallish, lefty Kassim Ouma who most thought Taylor should have been able to easily knock out. [details]
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