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by David P. Greisman - The greatest of expectations can’t always match up with the greatest of expectorations.
Kelly Pavlik knocked Jermain Taylor out in September. Emphatically. Taylor was still slumped in the blue corner when he came to. Twenty minutes earlier he had sent Pavlik careening around the ring, knocking him down and landing a total of 35 unanswered punches. But he failed to finish the task at hand, and this was the price he paid.
“I got knocked out?” he asked. Taylor awoke to an unforgiving reality. He was no longer the middleweight champion. Taylor nodded.
He’d have much more to say four months later.
“I want to beat the guy who beat me,” Taylor said in the days leading up to this past Saturday’s rematch with Pavlik. “This time when I get him in trouble I will finish him off. He won’t get back up.”
Tough words for a tough challenge. Once bitten by Pavlik’s knockout power, Taylor wasn’t shy about spitting venom in his opponent’s direction.
“It’s all about going out there and just making Kelly look like nothing,” Taylor said. “I was beating him on just half-ass stuff, so imagine what’s going to happen this fight.”
Imagine. A sequel to one of last year’s most dramatic slugfests. Taylor was knocked out. His championship was gone. And while this bout was a non-title affair contested at a catchweight of 166 pounds, the native of Little Rock, Ark., was returning to reclaim everything else he believed was rightfully his. It was either brave, foolish or both, and yet few minded as long as it meant a second helping of bashed pugilists. [details]
Kelly Pavlik knocked Jermain Taylor out in September. Emphatically. Taylor was still slumped in the blue corner when he came to. Twenty minutes earlier he had sent Pavlik careening around the ring, knocking him down and landing a total of 35 unanswered punches. But he failed to finish the task at hand, and this was the price he paid.
“I got knocked out?” he asked. Taylor awoke to an unforgiving reality. He was no longer the middleweight champion. Taylor nodded.
He’d have much more to say four months later.
“I want to beat the guy who beat me,” Taylor said in the days leading up to this past Saturday’s rematch with Pavlik. “This time when I get him in trouble I will finish him off. He won’t get back up.”
Tough words for a tough challenge. Once bitten by Pavlik’s knockout power, Taylor wasn’t shy about spitting venom in his opponent’s direction.
“It’s all about going out there and just making Kelly look like nothing,” Taylor said. “I was beating him on just half-ass stuff, so imagine what’s going to happen this fight.”
Imagine. A sequel to one of last year’s most dramatic slugfests. Taylor was knocked out. His championship was gone. And while this bout was a non-title affair contested at a catchweight of 166 pounds, the native of Little Rock, Ark., was returning to reclaim everything else he believed was rightfully his. It was either brave, foolish or both, and yet few minded as long as it meant a second helping of bashed pugilists. [details]
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