09.10.05 – By Justin Hackman:
JH: “Hey Pat, have you and Jermain begun training yet?”
Burns: “No, not quite. We have him on a maintenance program, but as far as training goes, no not yet.”
JH: “It was reported after his fight with Hopkins back in July, Jermain suffered a concussion from the clash of heads–
Burns: (Cutting in) “No, he didn’t suffer a concussion.”
JH: “So he’s feeling good physically?”
Burns: “Yeah he’s fine, he got a nasty cut, but he’s recovered and feeling fine.”
JH: “After the fight Jermain came out and said in the rematch he will not expend so much energy, maybe not go head hunting so much. Besides the physical aspects of the sport, what are some of the intangibles that Jermain learned from being in the same ring as Bernard?”
Burns: “Well one thing is, you learn how to deal with the anxiety. And I’m not just talking about fighting for the middleweight championship of the world. With anything important in your life whether it be a marriage, or opening up a
business, or putting money into a house, anxiety is taxing. And be that as it may, with all that pressure he still found a way to win the fight.”
JH: “Having said that, what will be different for Jermain in the rematch?”
Burns: “We’re not going to prepare any differently; we’ll prepare exactly the same. The only difference is now he’s been to the big show, and he’s hungry and the world has not seen the best Jermain Taylor. He barely scratched the surface that night. He’s fought a lot better than that. And now that he’s been there, there won’t be half the pressure, and what he really wants to do is go out and prove how good he really is.”
JH: “He’s still quite young and seems to have not yet reached his full potential. Does Jermain have any thoughts about his future concerning moving elsewhere in weight, or does he plan to remain a middleweight?”
Burns: “Right now he makes middleweight with no problem. We haven’t put a lot of thought into that, we take it one fight at a time. He’s strong. He makes the limit without a problem so as time goes by we’ll see what happens with his body, and we’re fighting this next fight at middleweight, so right now that is where our focus is.”
JH: “With that said, I can only assume he has not even looked ahead to a possible match up with Winky Wright should he get past Bernard in December?”
Burns: “No, we’re not even gonna talk about it. We don’t talk about that. Others can talk about it, the writers can write all they want, the media, etc. but Jermain’s conversations and my conversations strictly surround Bernard Hopkins because you cannot afford for one moment to look past a guy like that.”
JH: “No question about that. I know after the fight, some writers criticized Duane Ford for his judgment of the twelve round which made it somewhat of a disputed decision. Did that have any affect on Jermain?”
Burns: “I don’t think it affected him too much, again, he knows he could have fought better. The writers have the right to their opinion. But if you’re objective, and you go back and look at the tape like I have nearly 25 times, Jermain clearly won 7 out of those 12 rounds, with one more that conceivably could have been called a 10-10 round. But that’s the way I look at it, and you know we had a bunch of kids look at that tape, none of them knowing either fighter, and unanimously they agreed that “the tall guy won the fight.” (Chuckles) And of course that would be Jermain, the tall guy. In the future maybe that’s what we should do, have a bunch of twelve year olds judge the fights—we’d come out with some pretty good scoring.”
JH: “Ha, right, well—
Burns: (Cutting in) “But you know they have the right to their opinion, and the bottom line is the belts are back in Little Rock, Arkansas.”
JH: “Jay Nady said it best when he called Hopkins a pure ring general. And after experiencing his savvy first hand, what are you going to do to better prepare for his tactics?”
Burns: “Nothing. We’re not going to do anything. We don’t have to prepare. We were well prepared the first time, and ready for everything Bernard had. He didn’t throw anything at us we weren’t expecting. The only difference is now Jermain has the experience, and Jermain will prepare the exact same way, and we expect the same from Bernard: the same boring things, and Jermain will deal with it. He has now experienced it, and Jermain is a great athlete with a great head on shoulders and he’ll make all the proper adjustments that he needs to make. And I think Bernard has been doing this for so long that he’s gonna do the same thing. Bernard hasn’t seen anything of what’s in store in terms of what Jermain’s gonna do. He’s just gonna let his athletic ability run, and that will give Bernard plenty to think about, and hopefully Bernard will come out and fight instead of doing his girly type tactics: hit and grab and hold, and hit below the belt about ten times and that kind of stuff.”
JH: “When Jer—
Burns: (Cutting in) “Let me just cut to the chase here, lets get right to it. If Jermain Taylor is going to be beaten, that was the night to do it. Bernard had his opportunity. That was the night to do it because Jermain was not his sharpest that night. And if he couldn’t beat him that night when he was not as sharp as he’s always been, and with all the pressure the kid had on him, then Hopkins will never beat Jermain Taylor.”
JH: “One last question, Pat. The old saying, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger: on the night of July 16th it appeared Jermain matured more in those 12 rounds than he did in his whole career before that point. Was that in fact the case, and is Jermain a better fighter because of it?”
Burns: “Well, yes, that’s my point. That’s what we’ve been working for since he was a kid, since he was an amateur, and when I took him with 0 fights under his belt. That’s where we’ve been going, what we’ve been working for, and he found a way to win. And it’s been proven over and over; when a guy wins a world championship he becomes that much better. And if you want to put percentages on it, some people say a 30% better fighter, and that is the case with Jermain. He wasn’t at his best and he learned an awful lot in that fight about himself, and I think we’re going to see a guy that is 30% better.”
JH: “Jermain Taylor 30% better is a scary thought. Hey Pat thanks for taking the time out to talk with me today and I wish you and Jermain the best of luck on December 3rd.”
Burns: “Hey thanks a lot.”