17.06.06 – By Colin Shields: The middleweight showdown last night lived up to it’s expectations as one of the most anticipated and most important fights of the year. We thought, and hoped, that we would see the emergence of another clear, undisputed middleweight champion. That didn’t happen. Instead, we were treated to a tactical showdown between a veteran Winky Wright and an up and coming technition Jermain Taylor.. A lot of people thought that this fight would be so, but most expected dominance from one over the other. Not many expected an even battle. Makes me wish I had taken the 17-1 draw that I briefly considered before the fight!
I thought that Winky Wright (50-3-1, 25 KO’s) showed his boxing prowess by bringing the fight to younger fighter, Jermain Taylor (25-0-1, 17 KO’s). That was surprising to me as I thought Taylor, as the bigger and faster man naturally, would be the aggressor.
However, the fight played out as many called it- with Taylor countering Winky’s offence. Winky, as the smaller man, tried to impose himself upon Taylor. However, Jermain was obviously prepared for this as he peppered Winky with counter shots. Winky’s defensive skills were as expected, he kept his gloves high, only throwing his right jab when he saw an opening.
This was the blueprint for what many saw as Winky’s fight. Taylor obviously expected this as he threw pin-point orthodox jabs through Winky’s seemingly inpregnable defence. However, against expectations, Winky landed with combinations that scored, and even seemed to silence Taylor’s counters.
Taylor obviously learned a hard, hard lesson against Hopkins as he kept his patience and waited for the right time to land hurtful combonations of his own. At times, he even seemed to hurt Winky and you could see the difference in natural strength between the men.
All in all, I think that Taylor more than proved himself tonight. He has twice beaten a certain inductee into the hall-of-fame in Bernard Hopkins, and he has fought a very difficult fight tonight- a fight that many would have shirked- and retains his belts.
Taylor has earned his respect in not only beating ‘the man’ but facing a superb, much avoided opponent that some would argue he beat tonight.
Taylor can now move on from this fight with experience and hard learned ring savvy. He has earned his place, at the tender age of 27 I might add, as a contender for the mythical ‘pound for pound’ status. For those who expect a rematch, don’t hold your breath. Taylor is facing the best of his era and I imagine he will look towards someone like Felix Sturm next.
For the detractors that may claim that Taylor is fighting faded technitions, one only needs to look towards Hopkins’ domination of Tarver last week to see what a feat Taylor has accomplished. His last 3 fights are arguably the toughest he could have taken at middleweight and at this point of his career. He has faced two seemingly ageless veterans that have steamrolled legends and ‘legend killers’ in their path. I look forward to Taylor’s further development and am eager to see what path he takes to cement his pedigree and possible legend. We may be witnessing a slice of history in the making.