Taylor said that he WAS NOT in the best shape

[boxer12]

of his life...he said the reason why he got rid of Manny was because not enough focus was put on sparring. He said that was the reason he was winded. He said if you don't spar for 12 rounds youre sure ain't gonna be able to fight a full twelve. He said his next training camp will be focused more on sparring. It's all about conditioning.

I dont have a link but it was in the Arkansas newspaper.

[Dorian]

War Taylor!!!

[Silencers]

I think in the countdown to the fight shown on HBO, Steward said that Taylor had been sparring too much before fights before he was Jermain's trainer. Steward cut down Taylor's sparring so he'd have more energy for the actual fight.

[Verstyle]

Well at least he sorta didnt give an accuse on his lost. Well you really cant when you get knocked the **** out,now can ya.

[King Koopa]

Still playing the blame game I see...but it was Pavlik's night that night, nothing was gonna change that

[mattbythebay]

typical! He doesnt want to face he got KO'd i didnt even need to be prepared for 12 rds because it didnt go 12! He shoulda been in shape what he didnt know he had a fight coming up..lol..he recently fought Spinks and it went 12 so whats up with that...I think he just got whooped and needs to face the fact he is no longer the champ nor is he in the top 10 pfp hell i do think he belongs in top 20!

[BiggyGuns91]

i saw that too. he can blame it on whatever he wants but the result will be the same

[SkillspayBills]

Steward thought he sparred to much and Taylor thinks he didn't spar enough. Someone is going to be proven correct and if Jermain get KO'd by Kelly again than well...........neither belief matters.

[Kball15]

To much sparring can definetly be a problem. Especially in the long run. to much sparring shortens a fighters career.

But he was in the poconos, and on fight night he looked physically spectacular, more so then every before.

I think the Poconos camp was the most intense camp of his career.

[frankpaganini]

everyone here seems to have a different memory of the fight than what actually occured.

i notice most in this thread are saying taylor going knocked out (which he did) but its being said like he was absolutely dominated then knocked out.

which obviously isnt the case.

the fight was much closer than most are remembering it.

taylor had pavlik on his heels, off balance, knocked down once...and what appeared to be a trip to a TKO victory for taylor.

however i think taylor is making excuses saying he wasnt in the best shape and that he didnt have enough sparring.

taylor looked to be in just as good of shape as usual and it showed in the documentery.

the rounds of sparring may be true BUT the fight didnt go 12 rounds...however i do think a fighter should have many many many rounds of sparring before a fight...so i disagree with manny steward when it comes to sparring work ethic.

taylor doesnt need to make these excuses...it certainly doesnt raise his stock and in my opinion he looked pretty evenly matched with pavlik until the knockout...he was out boxing and at times out brawling pavlik. he had pavlik knocked down and whobbling pretty badly...

he's getting his rematch...no need to point fingers.

and not to take anything away from pavlik either...just as taylor had pavlik on his heels pavlik had taylor on his.

they both looked good during the fight and anyone could have one that fight...this rematch may be a different story...

hopefully (for boxing's sake...and not just because i prefer taylor as a fighter more than pavlik) taylor will win the rematch.

why?

it would force a 3rd fight; a rubber match and a trilogy in the middleweight division would be great for the sport.

it would bring together some casual boxing fans who could turn into hardcore fans because there will be talk (you know how commentators are) of, "will this trilogy live up to that of the great middleweight fights/trilogys of the sports past?".

its great for the sport.

i just perfer (honestly) for the better boxer to win in a trilogy but it would be something great to see and would give us all something great to look forward to at probably this time in 08'. since the rematch will occur early in 08' then a 3rd meeting would probably land in october or december (after a tune up fight...if they have one).