10.12.06 – By Jeff Bastasini: WBC and WBO Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (26-0-1, 17 KO’s) won a hard fought 12-round unanimous decision last night over Kassim Ouma, (25-3-1, 15 KO’s) who was fighting for the first time at middleweight, and looked good against Taylor. The final judge’s scores were 110-118, 111-117 and 113-115, all for Taylor. In command of the fight from the outset, Taylor used his speed, size and power advantage to win the majority of the exchanges, seldom appearing to be challenged during the bout by the smaller Ouma. In general, Taylor looked far from impressive, though, as Ouma applied constant pressure through the course of the bout, which seemed to rattle Taylor, at times. In the 5th round, Taylor’s left eye was cut..
However, it didn’t become a factor in the bout. In the second half of the fight, Ouma connected often with left hand leads and right hooks to the body. As in the case of earlier bouts, Taylor looked fatigued in the later rounds, in part due to Ouma’s high work rate, which gave Taylor few chances to rest.
Ouma, not known for his punching power, was forced to load up on his shots later in the bout, when it became apparent that he was hopelessly behind and would need something big, for instance, a knockout to win. Taylor had little problems staying out of the way of his desperate shots and was able to dodge and counter effectively for the remainder of the bout.
Ouma mad a respectable showing for his first bout as a middleweight, and I suspect he could be a champion in the this division, if he chooses to fight against WBA middleweights, where I think he’d feast on middleweights like Felix Sturm, Javier Castillejo and Mariano Carrera. As for now, Ouma is still too small to be fighting against Jermain Taylor, Winky Wright, Edison Miranda and Arthur Abraham.
Taylor has by all accounts voiced a desire to move up in weight to the Super middleweight class, where he hopes to get a bout against Joe Calzaghe, the WBO super middleweight champion, and the fighter that is considered the top of the class in that division. This bout, if it can be arranged, would be hugely popular worldwide, much more so than Taylor’s last fight against Winky Wright. At the same time, it would mean a big payday for the 28-year old Taylor.