"I remember when Bernard Hopkins did it after our fight. He took some glory away. Let him be happy, the man is the middleweight champion of the world let him enjoy it,” said Taylor. “He did catch me, he hurt me with a body shot in the 11th round. I could have did things a lot different...but he had a great fight all the way around. I give it to him.”
With these words, former middleweight champ Jermain Taylor conceded 2 things. First, he admitted he had indeed lost his rematch with current champ Kelly Pavlik. Second, he reiterated that indeed, Kelsey McCarson must have been crazy picking him to win the fight in the first place.
Great.
The judges scorecards indicate that a close win was earned by Pavlik with the work he did in the championship rounds (10-12). Pavik won all 3 rounds on every scorecard except on 1, where one of the judges gave round 10 to Taylor.
Where these 2 fighters go from here could make or break their careers. Taylor, in particular, is in need of a move to a different weight division not to mention a win. Taylor is rumored to be headed to the supermiddelweight division (168 lbs) for a fight on HBO. One fighter mentioned already is Lucian Brute, but nothing is close to being confirmed as of yet.
Meanwhile, Kelly Pavlik is allegedly lining up a fight with Felix "Tito" Trinidad.
Yeah. Felix freakin' Trinidad.
Instead, Pavlik should be a real champ and give superstar Winky Wright a shot. That fight would be good for the sport and be a nice gesture toward the underappreciated Wright who always has trouble finding fighters willing to share the ring with him.
In any event, my official fight prediction score has gone down below .500 to 1-2. (bleh) |
