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The commonly received wisdom (and one that I shared) was that Wanky Wrong would have far too much technical know-how and experience for his younger foe and would romp home for a relatively easy UD victory.
However, I’ve been considering this and already the flaw in the viewpoint is apparent: people are assuming Winky’s victory on the basis that Taylor won’t be ready for a savvy veteran of 15+ years as a pro and win 50+ bouts to his name… despite the fact that Taylor’s just achieved two back-to-back victories over one in the form of Bernard Hopkins.
Okay, first and foremost, Taylor won both fights. Read that again: he won both fights. It doesn’t matter that the first was one that Hopkins appeared to edge on the cards (even though he was lucky not to get a KD called in the second round): the bottom line is, two judges called it for Taylor, ergo he won. This is what is known as A Nice Smile Goes A Long Way. After the event, though I had Hopkins 115-113, I pondered over whether Taylor was destined to get the favour in the event of any close rounds (of which there were many) and that the young, photogenic and non-“dangerous” personality would receive a gift. If we presume that he did (and HBO are seemingly making no secrets that they’d like him to remain a fixture) then we can assume he’ll again be given “the benefit of the doubt” in any close rounds with a technically proficient yet unexciting southpaw who isn’t youthful and pretty, and someone whom no one wants to fight.
The second Hopkins fight saw the aged ex-champion virtually give Taylor the “W” in a sophoforic rematch that showcased an incredibly negative performance from both. Although one factor in Taylor’s favour is that Hopkins was a natural light-heavy and that this is only Wright’s third fight at Middle, this factor can be largely discounted as Bernard wasn’t particularly muscling him around the ring or imposing his will on him like he did in spectacular fashion to Tarver last weekend.
Yes, Hopkins and Wright are two vastly different propositions in terms of styles, but we’ve established that Taylor has the ability to sc**** a questionable decision over a veteran without necessarily looking good doing it, and there’s no reason to assume he won’t be able to do the same again tonight. This is largely due to Taylor’s physical advantage. While Wright has the ability to seemingly cocoon himself in his high guard, almost everything else is in Taylor’s favour: he’s younger, stronger, faster, with a 2” reach advantage. I don’t expect Winky to be knocked out (it won’t be that sort of fight, I’m not expecting ANY fireworks) look for Taylor to outhustle him and have a boxing intelligence that seemed to allude a certain former Welterweight who appeared to have never heard of the word “duck”.
In fact, it’s Wright who’s still untested at the weight, only having faced the smaller Trinidad and fringe contender Sam Soliman, the latter of whom he didn’t look spectacular against for whatever reason. Though Wright claimed to be shaking off flu, it’s clear that a series of pressure combinations at high speed around the side of that would-be impenetrable guard is the way to beat him, as Vasquez most notably proved. To be fair, it’s been nearly seven years since Wright’s last defeat (nearly twelve since the defeat that wasn’t questionable) and Taylor hasn’t shown himself to be that kind of fighter at this level, particularly in his last two outings.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Wright’s class showed and he got a decision win, or even an extremely late TKO victory. However, look for Taylor’s strength and power to force Wright back just enough times throughout the fight so that – even though his stamina will let him down during the championship rounds – he’ll sc**** a hotly contested SD win that we’ll all be arguing about on here tomorrow.
The Batty Count: Notice how Winky seems to be going through a run of Jackson family members ever other fight at the new weight? First we had Tito, now it’s Jermain(e). Expect him, should he pull through tonight, to start calling out Marlon Thomas and Randy Suico. You heard it here first.
However, I’ve been considering this and already the flaw in the viewpoint is apparent: people are assuming Winky’s victory on the basis that Taylor won’t be ready for a savvy veteran of 15+ years as a pro and win 50+ bouts to his name… despite the fact that Taylor’s just achieved two back-to-back victories over one in the form of Bernard Hopkins.
Okay, first and foremost, Taylor won both fights. Read that again: he won both fights. It doesn’t matter that the first was one that Hopkins appeared to edge on the cards (even though he was lucky not to get a KD called in the second round): the bottom line is, two judges called it for Taylor, ergo he won. This is what is known as A Nice Smile Goes A Long Way. After the event, though I had Hopkins 115-113, I pondered over whether Taylor was destined to get the favour in the event of any close rounds (of which there were many) and that the young, photogenic and non-“dangerous” personality would receive a gift. If we presume that he did (and HBO are seemingly making no secrets that they’d like him to remain a fixture) then we can assume he’ll again be given “the benefit of the doubt” in any close rounds with a technically proficient yet unexciting southpaw who isn’t youthful and pretty, and someone whom no one wants to fight.
The second Hopkins fight saw the aged ex-champion virtually give Taylor the “W” in a sophoforic rematch that showcased an incredibly negative performance from both. Although one factor in Taylor’s favour is that Hopkins was a natural light-heavy and that this is only Wright’s third fight at Middle, this factor can be largely discounted as Bernard wasn’t particularly muscling him around the ring or imposing his will on him like he did in spectacular fashion to Tarver last weekend.
Yes, Hopkins and Wright are two vastly different propositions in terms of styles, but we’ve established that Taylor has the ability to sc**** a questionable decision over a veteran without necessarily looking good doing it, and there’s no reason to assume he won’t be able to do the same again tonight. This is largely due to Taylor’s physical advantage. While Wright has the ability to seemingly cocoon himself in his high guard, almost everything else is in Taylor’s favour: he’s younger, stronger, faster, with a 2” reach advantage. I don’t expect Winky to be knocked out (it won’t be that sort of fight, I’m not expecting ANY fireworks) look for Taylor to outhustle him and have a boxing intelligence that seemed to allude a certain former Welterweight who appeared to have never heard of the word “duck”.
In fact, it’s Wright who’s still untested at the weight, only having faced the smaller Trinidad and fringe contender Sam Soliman, the latter of whom he didn’t look spectacular against for whatever reason. Though Wright claimed to be shaking off flu, it’s clear that a series of pressure combinations at high speed around the side of that would-be impenetrable guard is the way to beat him, as Vasquez most notably proved. To be fair, it’s been nearly seven years since Wright’s last defeat (nearly twelve since the defeat that wasn’t questionable) and Taylor hasn’t shown himself to be that kind of fighter at this level, particularly in his last two outings.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Wright’s class showed and he got a decision win, or even an extremely late TKO victory. However, look for Taylor’s strength and power to force Wright back just enough times throughout the fight so that – even though his stamina will let him down during the championship rounds – he’ll sc**** a hotly contested SD win that we’ll all be arguing about on here tomorrow.
The Batty Count: Notice how Winky seems to be going through a run of Jackson family members ever other fight at the new weight? First we had Tito, now it’s Jermain(e). Expect him, should he pull through tonight, to start calling out Marlon Thomas and Randy Suico. You heard it here first.
Looks like people now realise that I am BoxScene's master predictor, and when I say Taylor shuts him out and knocks him out I do Mean that Taylor shuts him out and knocks him out.. okay?
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