Tweet
By Jake Donovan - Former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor returned to the ring after a 26-month absence with an eighth round stoppage of Jessie Nicklow in their Showtime-televised main event Friday evening at Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California.
A string of losses – all but one ending in frightening highlight reel knockout fashion – forced Taylor out of the Super Six tournament and the sport altogether, coming to the realization that he needed to change quite a few things in his career if he was to ever again step foot in the ring.
The first change came in his training methods, as the 2000 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist made a conscious decision to drop back down to the middleweight limit. Taylor hadn’t fought at the weight since losing his lineal crown to Kelly Pavlik in their Sept. ’07 thriller that saw both fighters on the deck but Taylor slumped in the corner by fights end.
It was believed that a move up in weight was the next logical step, but the results proved disastrous. Taylor dropped three of his four fights at super middleweight, the lone win coming in Nov. ’08 against former Olympic teammate Jeff Lacy, whose own career was – and remains – in a tailspin.
Following the win were a pair of eerily similar last-second knockout losses to Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham, competitive fights that ended in brutally disastrous fashion for Taylor.
More than two years after being laid out in the closing seconds of the 12th round of his Super Six Stage One bout with Arthur Abraham, Taylor came into the ring at a slender 161 lb. [Click Here To Read More]
A string of losses – all but one ending in frightening highlight reel knockout fashion – forced Taylor out of the Super Six tournament and the sport altogether, coming to the realization that he needed to change quite a few things in his career if he was to ever again step foot in the ring.
The first change came in his training methods, as the 2000 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist made a conscious decision to drop back down to the middleweight limit. Taylor hadn’t fought at the weight since losing his lineal crown to Kelly Pavlik in their Sept. ’07 thriller that saw both fighters on the deck but Taylor slumped in the corner by fights end.
It was believed that a move up in weight was the next logical step, but the results proved disastrous. Taylor dropped three of his four fights at super middleweight, the lone win coming in Nov. ’08 against former Olympic teammate Jeff Lacy, whose own career was – and remains – in a tailspin.
Following the win were a pair of eerily similar last-second knockout losses to Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham, competitive fights that ended in brutally disastrous fashion for Taylor.
More than two years after being laid out in the closing seconds of the 12th round of his Super Six Stage One bout with Arthur Abraham, Taylor came into the ring at a slender 161 lb. [Click Here To Read More]
Comment