17.06.06 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: Though many fans and experts were adamant about a one sided whooping going to either fighter, the result was a stalemate in the middle of those extremes. There may well be some controversy coming from both sides of the coin, however, I believe the final result was more then fair in that neither fighter really imposed themselves enough on the other..
Winky Wright, who was more disgusted at the outcome than Taylor, left the ring soon after, and said a rematch was not in his plans, seeing as he felt he was robbed. Personally, I think that while Winky is a great fighter, the result of that robbery was as evident on his face as it was on Taylor’s, highlighted by swelling on both sides of Winky’s face. The issue with his style is such that, although I know I will be crucified for it, he lacks a more versatile defense. I know that what he does with his arms is very difficult to do, and hence it is not easy to defend against, but his defense is the reason why he can be robbed of a win almost any time out.
If you remember my write up for Solimon Wright, it was evident, in the same sense there, too, because while Wright was blocking many of those punches, and compubox was making it seemed skewed, there were many moments in the fight where with both guys not landing much, the guy controlling it by throwing blocked shots is getting the judges attention. However, since Solimon basically throws out of nowhere and just to land, he was not given as much benefit as Taylor was here.
Since Taylor was throwing the straighter punches, the judges were more willing to consider giving him the round, being that he is bigger and those punches carry more impact. This is why Manny Steward was telling Jermain, he was banking rounds, seeing as he saw it the same way as Solimon’s trainer did when he was telling him the same thing in between rounds. While the commentators thought it was more a matter of Steward trying to calm his fighter, I believe it was sincere, in the sense that as I said, even punches landing half way, or with authority on the gloves are not as meaningless as complete misses. This is why although Winky is man’s fighter, in that its tough to get with hard blows on the gloves like that, he risks giving up huge periods of a round up when he is catching punches in this manner.
This is part of the reason why he was so reluctant to engage Taylor as much in the corner because while he wanted to wait Taylor and unload, Taylor tried to do the same thing. Hence after Winky went in with that high guard Taylor was looking to answer after Wright’s flurries, thereby making Wright more hesitant to throw down the stretch. Really this was a truly terrific fight with these sorts of momentum shifts where both guys were looking to outthink the other tactically.
Unfortunately, for Taylor, since his eye had almost swelled shut towards the end of the fight, he could not do as much, even though Wright was not 100% fresh, either. Personally, I had the bout up one round for Taylor going into the twelfth and even though Winky danced, thinking he had won the fight, Taylor was also cautious because of his eye. Thereby, I agree with Winky that he took the final round, but I don’t agree that he took the decision, as he missed with many shots in the corner, and was almost too cautious of getting counter flurried by Taylor in many instances. Still since his punches were much cleaner, although not necessarily as effective, because he is a bit of an arm puncher, Taylor got more credit then he should have for ring generalship, in making Wright hesitant to throw that much, as well as for effective aggression but not clean punching, because his size and powerful shots, even while landing on Wright’s gloves still had some measure of success in moving Wright or as I said hesitate to throw.
Consequently, the referee, Frank Garza, did a terrific job in establishing his authority because his commending voice and actions made both guys reluctant to foul that much. Although Taylor was pushing Wright’s head down, it was also because Wright would duck under the shots and stay there making that little move kind of necessary although not very legal.
On a final note, I am happy with the result for another reason, in that the judges seemed to not sway towards either man’s style. Usually in fights of this matter, you will see a way out of proportion scorecard because a judge favors one style over another in a close tactical bout such as this. Here, all 3 professional (key word) judges did not seem to do that rather focusing on both fighters and the action as a whole. All in all, it was a great fight with what I believe was a fair and just result, and hopefully we will see a rematch.