Who Is Protected Now? Jermain Taylor Ducks Carl Froch

[Hitman932]

Talk about ignorance.

Did he HAVE to go after the belts Hopkins held? No. He chose to.

Did he HAVE to have his first defense against Winky Wright? No. He chose to.

Die he have to fight Pavlik a second time, after ending the first fight curled up like a roly-poly on the canvas? No, he chose to.

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first off im not ignorant, lets get that straight

if you want to take what i said completely literally that is fine

however Taylor's career was going nowhere unless he fought Hopkins. No, he didn't "have" to do it, but what was he going to do? Continue fighting Daniel Eduoard's until he was 40 years old?? sit back and fight bums until Hopkins turned 42 and dropped the belts?

Winky Wright, goodness me, Taylor knew Winky couldnt hurt him and he knew HBO had his back... he didnt have to fight Kassim Ouma or Cory Spinks either.

And yes he did have to fight Pavlik a second time, to prove something to himself, and also because he said he would. He was embarrassed and humiliated in the first fight and there was really nothing else out there except moving up to 168 and taking an easy fight. Taylor said soon afterwards he was taking the rematch and that he would get revenge. At that point he "had" to take the fight or risk looking like a sorry *****.

[dstew]

first off im not ignorant, lets get that straight

if you want to take what i said completely literally that is fine

however Taylor's career was going nowhere unless he fought Hopkins. No, he didn't "have" to do it, but what was he going to do? Continue fighting Daniel Eduoard's until he was 40 years old?? sit back and fight bums until Hopkins turned 42 and dropped the belts?

Winky Wright, goodness me, Taylor knew Winky couldnt hurt him and he knew HBO had his back... he didnt have to fight Kassim Ouma or Cory Spinks either.

And yes he did have to fight Pavlik a second time, to prove something to himself, and also because he said he would. He was embarrassed and humiliated in the first fight and there was really nothing else out there except moving up to 168 and taking an easy fight. Taylor said soon afterwards he was taking the rematch and that he would get revenge. At that point he "had" to take the fight or risk looking like a sorry *****.

I can't believe we are arguing "have to" and "chose to" semantics.

Taylor chose his profession, he chose to do the things that made him successful, he chose to continue fighting the guys who would bring more success and more money, and he chose to try to avenge his loss to Pavlik. He didn't "have" to do anything. A gun was never at his head, he could have retired at any time or gone with different fights. He made his own path because he chose to prioritize success and pride.

Your argument just doesn't hold up. I don't HAVE to go to work everyday. I CHOOSE to becuase I wouldn't like being homeless. Some people choose differently, obviously.

[abadger]

Protected? The last fight he took was against the MW champ who knocked him out four months prior. Don't you think you're going overboard a bit?

If after Taylor fights Lacy he continues to take what fans view as the easier fights, then I think it's fair to start the criticism. But this is ONE fight, coming off a string of title defenses against titleists or former titleists.

Yep. One fight, a fight which would enable him to capture the most prestigious alphabet title, against an opponent who if Taylor is the 'elite' people say he is, he should whoop. He can't live off what he's done in the past.

Also, say what you will about Lacy being the easier fight for no title, but he, unlike Froch, HAS held a belt before. He HAS fought elite competiton before, even if he lost. His name is without a doubt better on Taylor's resume.

If Taylor fights Froch now for a title and beats him, history will perceive it as a victory over an unproven Euro bum. You could easily argue that he would get LESS respect for such a win than a win over a once-beaten Lacy, who despite his poor showings the last two years has only lost to a top 3 p4p fighter.

Lacy may be more famous than Froch, but he isn't a better fighter, thus anyone who knows boxing will regard Froch's name as the better one. Probably Taylor would get less respect from Americans for beating Froch than Lacy, but they would be Americans with wrong opinions.

[deanrw]

Lacy may be more famous than Froch, but he isn't a better fighter, thus anyone who knows boxing will regard Froch's name as the better one. Probably Taylor would get less respect from Americans for beating Froch than Lacy, but they would be Americans with wrong opinions.

Those wrong opinions are the one signing Taylor's check. You just answered your own question.

[Hitman932]

Your argument just doesn't hold up. I don't HAVE to go to work everyday. I CHOOSE to becuase I wouldn't like being homeless. Some people choose differently, obviously.

Taylor has only taken tough fights when the alternative would make him look like a coward.

If he had not fought Hopkins or Pavlik nobody would take him seriously, he would be the second coming of Sven Ottke.

[Sin City]

Protected? Mother****er fought Winky Wright, bernard Hopkins and Kelly Pavlik.. how the **** is he protected?
The guy deserves a break after losing twice to Pavlik.. cut him some slack!

[Marty Mcfly]

Froch KOs Taylor in April 2009. I was in attendance.

[kayjay]

Taylor has always taken the hard road, but this one is inexcusable.

[-Swizzy-]

first off, Froch and Inkin are #1 and #2 fighters in the wbc rankings. 2nd, taylor who fought the likes of hopkins, wright, spinks, pavlik is definitley not ducking Froch. Just cuz he isn't fighting him, doesn't mean he is ducking. Personally, I'd rather see a lacy-taylor fight than a froch-taylor fight.

I don't think taylor will ever duck anybody in his career considering the fighters he has chosen to fight in the past when he didn't need to ever step in the ring with any of them.

[Kris Silver]

Lacy is never as good as Froch and is a pretty predictable time wasting fight for Taylor. Fighting Froch brings a belt and most know it'd be a better accomplishement than beating Lacy. Lacy's like the c list celebrity once hyped and lost to another elite fighter, that the elites would love to have a go on raping. It's getting a little old, he's clearly not at that level and beating him proves little to nothing.

If Lacy doesn't win by a big margin, or KO, even that should be enough to make them decide to fight Froch instead. This guys name on your resumes has got less meaning than they and some think.