Has Jermain Taylor finally won your respect?

**Sin City** · 02-18-2008, 01:25 AM

No, too little too late.

**Fox McCloud** · 02-18-2008, 01:28 AM

I've got to say...

Jermain Taylor, in all of his fights with elites, has either eeked out razor-thin decisions that a lot of people disputed, or lost.

He barely "beats" Hopkins and Winky.
He is backed up by a 154 pounder in Ouma, although he wins a comfortable decision.
He looks TERRIBLE against 154 pounder Spinks.

Finally, he has an opponent to look good against and he gets KO'd and loses a decision.

I mean, bully for Jermain, but really, what has he done to show that he really belongs with the elite names?

**raysan** · 02-18-2008, 01:30 AM

Originally posted by Sin City

No, too little too late.

haha, what? hes in his prime, and is coming off a couple losses to one of the hardest hitting middleweights in recent history, with his last that couldve went his way..Jermaine will be a world champ again, how is it too late?

**Fox McCloud** · 02-18-2008, 01:30 AM

The funny thing is, I respected him a lot more before he lost, which seems to be the opposite of everyone else.

Everyone thought he ****** while he was winning, and now admire him because he performed well, but lost against a guy he was supposed to beat.

I thought he did enough to get by in most of his big fights that he narrowly won, and was convinced that he was going to return to championship form against "The Ghost", and then lost.

So what is his forte in the sport? He can beat bums and 154 pounders convincingly (although he does struggle with some 154 pounders), but can't do much against elites. Why should I care about this guy?

**ReadyUp** · 02-18-2008, 01:30 AM

Originally posted by DWiens421

I've got to say...

Jermain Taylor, in all of his fights with elites, has either eeked out razor-thin decisions that a lot of people disputed, or lost.

He barely "beats" Hopkins and Winky.

I mean, bully for Jermain, but really, what has he done to show that he really belongs with the elite names?

Really? If you beat an elite name (close or not) does that prove you belong with elites? Especially if you do it twice.

Kelly Pavlik's biggest name on his resume is Jermain Taylor. Is Kelly Pavlik elite?

**frankpaganini** · 02-18-2008, 01:31 AM

Originally posted by Slotff

Clearly one of the most disrespected champions around today. If anyone remembers, he was heavily criticized after his win over Spinks. People said that he only fought smaller opponents, people said he was a fraud and he would never be able to eke out a win over a real Middleweight. What people were ignoring was that his resume went: Bernard Hopkins, Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright, Kassim Ouma, Cory Spinks. Exetremly impressive, and after all of those contests, he was still undefeated.

Well now he has fought a real middleweight, twice in a row, and twice lost in fantastic, close fights. However, he was dominating Pavlik on the cards, and just about KO'd him, in the first fight, and one can make the case that he beat Kelly the second time. Haters, detractors, Pavlik fans, non-believers, has he finally won your respect in going 19 rounds with Kelly Pavlik and just about serving him his first defeat?

Taylor always had my respect.

he's done some great things in his career. most importantly was beating hopkins twice. how many fighters besides taylor can say they've done that? no one.

only pro losses (for hopkins) are Roy Jones and his pro debut other than taylor.

oscar de la hoya (a for sure hall of famer); antonio tarver, felix trinidad, winky wright all lost to hopkins but this guy jermain taylor who many thought he couldnt do it did it. not once but twice.

taylor had my respect there but he went on to beat the names you mentioned

taylor is a class A fighter...winning against pavlik would put him close to elite...but he's not there just yet...he was there in my opinion with that second win over hopkins but he's fallen off in my opinion.

can he come back? sure he can.

does he have my respect? yes.

do i think he can be something big in the sport in the future/near future? yes.

**Fox McCloud** · 02-18-2008, 01:33 AM

Originally posted by -GBGQ-

Really? If you beat an elite name (close or not) does that prove you belong with elites? Especially if you do it twice.

Kelly Pavlik's biggest name on his resume is Jermain Taylor. Is Kelly Pavlik elite?

I understand that he beat Hopkins. I certainly thought he won both fights, but they were definately fights that left a LOT of question marks. Especially the first one, because Hopkins ****ed away the first 8 rounds doing nothing, and then beat Jermain's ass in the last four rounds. So, when Hopkins tried, he beat Taylor's ass. He did look pretty good in the second fight.

I thought he lost the Winky fight (along with a lot of other people).

The jury is still out on if Kelly is elite as far as I am concerned. If he beats Sturm and Abraham (even though neither are particularly proven), I think that can complement his wins over Taylor to provide a pretty good body of work worthy of being called elite, especially because he will have unified the 160 division. I just use that as the bar because he has stated that is his intentions.

**beez721** · 02-18-2008, 01:38 AM

Originally posted by Slotff

Clearly one of the most disrespected champions around today. If anyone remembers, he was heavily criticized after his win over Spinks. People said that he only fought smaller opponents, people said he was a fraud and he would never be able to eke out a win over a real Middleweight. What people were ignoring was that his resume went: Bernard Hopkins, Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright, Kassim Ouma, Cory Spinks. Exetremly impressive, and after all of those contests, he was still undefeated.

Well now he has fought a real middleweight, twice in a row, and twice lost in fantastic, close fights. However, he was dominating Pavlik on the cards, and just about KO'd him, in the first fight, and one can make the case that he beat Kelly the second time. Haters, detractors, Pavlik fans, non-believers, has he finally won your respect in going 19 rounds with Kelly Pavlik and just about serving him his first defeat?

he certainly didnt get my respect. throwing 38 punches a round in order to not get knocked out again doesnt do it for me. he didnt fight to win,,he fought to not get knocked out again

**Sin City** · 02-18-2008, 01:40 AM

Originally posted by raysan

haha, what? hes in his prime, and is coming off a couple losses to one of the hardest hitting middleweights in recent history, with his last that couldve went his way..Jermaine will be a world champ again, how is it too late?

yes, but he can't go back and change how close the hopkins and wright fight were. he can't go back and chang the fact that kassim ouma kept coming forward despite being completely oversized. i think Jermain is a product of bad choices and not taking his career more seriously. I think taking the Hopkins fights back to back was a bad idea.. then fighting winky right after.

it's gonna take him nearly a miracle to bounce his image back.

Has Jermain Taylor finally won your respect?