27.09.07 – By Eric R. Sloan: “Sex sells” is the age old marketing cliché that works well for everything except athlete’s foot ointment and boxing. Never yet has a fight been promoted by the quality of ring girls hired for the event. We may see that soon enough with the heavyweights, however, unless someone can come in and wake up that division. I’ll leave Fast Actin’ Tinactin to John Madden. Within the life span of ESB readers, boxing has too often been about promoting the hard-hitting white boy versus black champion..
No disrespect to bikinis, fake smiles, and the ability to walk in heels and carry a round sign at the same time, but in boxing, race sells. The flavor of the month is Kelly Pavlik who will try to prove that he is not a smaller reincarnation of Tommy Morrison when he makes a monumental leap in competition by fighting the middleweight champion, Jermain Taylor, tomorrow night.
DiBella Entertainment and Top Rank Promotions have given their best to inject racism into the title fight. Pavlik’s standard refrain for at least the last year is that he is not respected in boxing circles because of his ghostly skin color. It must be a Caucasian American thing though because someone forgot to tell Calzaghe, Kessler, Hatton, and Klitschko that white men need not apply. Conversely, Taylor believes that Pavlik is the number one contender for just that—a “Great White Hope” candidate. Forget about the fact that Pavlik dismantled Edison Miranda four months ago.
Regardless, if history is our guide, then Saturday night’s story may have already been written. Who was Gerry Cooney before he knocked out Ken Norton? Well, for starters, he was a nice white guy from a working class background who knocked out everyone who stood in front of him. He was slow, had a chin and heart larger than his skill level—a one-dimensional power guy for the most part. Who was Kelly Pavlik before he ripped Edison Miranda? You get the point.
Like Jermain Taylor, Larry Holmes was not a popular champion. He was, however, a champion who faced the best and beat them all before age took over. When Cooney was thrown in front of him, this one fight guy who was “the next Marciano,” Holmes took him down and we heard scant little from The Gentleman after that loss. Jermain Taylor has faced the best, not recently mind you, but he has never lost. Love him or hate him, Taylor knows how to win, but Larry Holmes he is not. If history is our guide, then Taylor will defeat Pavlik.
Historical similarities aside, Saturday night’s main event is more about Emanuel Steward versus Jack Loew. Many of us expected Steward to leave Taylor after the Cory Spinks fight. There is something telling by the fact that he didn’t. If HBO’s recent Countdown special tells us anything it’s that Manny has finally had the necessary time to make his imprint on Taylor. If that’s the case, then we will see a Taylor that we will not recognize on Saturday night who prevails in a very lopsided affair. If not, then the fight doctor may well want to be positioned as close to Steward as possible in preparation for a probable heart attack.
Jack Loew, however, is training Pavlik in a way not unlike Mr. Miyagi trained Daniel san to fight the Cobra Kai. Wax on, wax off techniques involving a tire and a sledgehammer may be enough to dominate second class middleweights, but it is not the stuff that creates a champion. Championship boxing is a full time gig that leaves no room for an asphalt business. Fight film of Pavlik shows little more than right hands followed by left hooks to the body, and then the common flurries against fighters who were willing to stand in front of him. His chin and heart are genetic. For Pavlik to beat Taylor, therefore, it will take maximum contributions from both attributes and a lot of help from Jermain.
Unscientific research has uncovered that most self-proclaimed experts are leaning toward Pavlik to take the belt from Taylor. It is anyone’s guess if this is due to post-Miranda euphoria or Taylor’s recent string of sloppiness. It certainly has nothing to do with the fact that Pavlik has been a recognized contender who has fought everybody else in the middleweight division because he isn’t and he hasn’t. Either way, it’s the challenger who has the crowd and it’s the champion with the most to prove. We have no evidence to suggest that Taylor has learned anything or will listen to his trainers. If he has, however, then expect this fight to be something akin to Holmes-Cooney—a proud effort from a nice guy with a big heart who just didn’t have the skills to match the champion. The “Great White Hope” who followed the historical script. If he hasn’t, then Taylor is in for a long night of punishment delivered by a guy who simply wants it more.
While it may be a contrarian view, tomorrow night’s fight is Jermain Taylor’s to lose. He’s faster, technically superior to Pavlik, he has fought better competition, and his training is much, much better. A loss means that his heart is gone and that getting hit for a few million dollars is no longer that appealing. Steward will leave him and Arkansas will be too distracted by Razorback football to care. A win, however, may well mean that he has more Larry Holmes in him than we think. As for Pavlik, this may be his only shot. Great White Hope or Great Fight Ghost? We’ll find out soon enough.