By Michael Collins: Jermain Taylor (29-4-1, 18 KO’s) will continue with his comeback in April against an opponent still to be determined on SHOWTIME. According to Dan Rafael, Joachim Alcine (33-2-1, 19 KO’s) is one possibility for the 33-year-old Taylor to fight on that date.
Taylor’s promoter is looking to match him against a fringe contender with a name that boxing fans can recognize but not someone really good. Taylor still needs more time before he starts taking on the cream of the middleweight division, as he missed two years of his career following a head injury he suffered in his loss to Arthur Abraham in 2009 in the Super Six tournament.
Taylor is now back in the middleweight division where he has a lot more of an advantage than he did in his short stint at super middleweight. Taylor is also staying in shape and not struggling to make weight like he did between 2007 and 2009. In his last fight, Taylor looked pretty good against Jessie Nicklow last December, but it wasn’t a good enough opponent to get an accurate gauge of how much Taylor has left.
Taylor injured his right hand in the 2nd round and used mostly his left hand for the remainder of the fight. Taylor’s impressive hand speed was still there, as was his right power when he was able to use it early on. However, Taylor needs work on his footwork because he looked kind of sluggish in his movements in dealing with the shorter 5’9” Nicklow.
The idea is for Taylor to get a couple more fights under his belt and then challenge for a world title against one of the champions such as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Dmitriy Pirog, Felix Sturm or Daniel Geale. With Taylor’s name, he’ll likely get a shot against one of the champions, who might feel that Taylor is susceptible still to getting knocked out.
Abner Mares to fight on April 21st in Mexico; Eric Morel a possibility
International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight champion Abner Mares (23-0, 13 KO’s) will be fighting on April 21st in Mexico, according to Dan Rafael. The opponent is still not clear but 36-year-old Erik Morel (46-2, 23 KO’s), a former WBA flyweight champion, might get the call from Golden Boy Promotions to take the fight. Mares, 25, beat Joseph Agbeko last December in a rematch.
It was good fight and Mares showed a lot of improvement over his previous performances against Agbeko by refraining from throwing low blows. Mares didn’t show a lot of power but his work rate and body punching was a huge factor in him wearing don Agbeko. Mares needs a big named opponent in order for him to become a star, but the bantamweight division is completely barren of recognizable talent that boxing fans know or care about.
One potential fight out there for Mares is against Nonito Donaire, a former two division world champion. However, Donaire fights for Top Rank Promotions while Mares fights for Golden Boy. This means that the chances of the two fighters meeting in the ring are low for now unless a thaw can happen between the two promotional companies or an abrupt change in the leadership occurs for one reason or another.
WBA bantamweight champion Anselmo Moreno could fight on the undercard of Mares’ April 21st fight. Moreno would be a great future opponent for Mares and this will be a good chance for Moreno get some visibility before a bout can be made at some point in time.
Mikey Garcia to fight Bernabe Concepcion on Lopez vs. Salido undercard on March 10th
Undefeated Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia (27-0, 23 KO’s) faces Bernabe Concepcion (29-5-1, 15 KO’s) on March 10th on the undercard of Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Orlando Salido fight at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
For Garcia, this is a high visibility fight where he can show his stuff off while taking on a fairly decent featherweight in Concepcion. Garcia supposedly had a chance of fighting the winner of the Lopez-Salido fight. Promoter Bob Arum is considering making that fight, but it may not happen because Arum also wants to match Lopez up with Nonito Donaire and putting Lopez in with Garcia would be a very risky proposition given Lopez’s recent knockout loss to Salido and his close calls in other fights when facing guys with respectable power.
Garcia is destroying everyone that’s put in with him thus far, However, he’s still not faced anyone with any real talent and that won’t change in him facing Concepcion on March 10th. Concepcion really needs a time out or a maybe a new trainer or something, because his career has been sinking for the past couple of years with losses to Juan Manuel Lopez, Steven Luevano and Juan Carlos Martinez.
It appears that Concepcion has lost his confidence and he’s not fighting smart like he did before he started losing. He’s trying to overpower everyone and he doesn’t have that kind of power to be fighting in that manner. He needs to focus on boxing and picking his spots when trying to unload on guys. What Concepcion has been doing is just jumping on his opponents to try and take them out immediately. It’s not working well for him now that he’s facing world class opposition instead of the soft opponents he had been fed prior to his loss to Luevano.
Jean Pascal vs. Ismayl Sillakh a possibility in a WBC light heavyweight title eliminator with winner to face Hopkins-Dawson 2 winner
Dan Rafael is reporting that a fight between promising light heavyweight contender Ismayl Sillakh (17-0, 14 KO’s) and former WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-2-1, 16 KO’s) is a possibility in a World Boxing Council light heavyweight eliminator bout with the winner that emerges to become the mandatory challenger for the Bernard Hopkins vs. Chad Dawson 2 fight that takes place on April 28th. Sillakh, who comes from Ukraine, is ranked #2 by the WBC, while Pascal is ranked #3. It’s fight that makes a lot of sense and it would make a future fight against the Hopkins-Dawson winner a lot bigger.
Sillakh’s promoter John Wirt is speaking with Pascal’s promoter Yvon Michel to try and put the fight together for a bout that could take place in May if they can convince Pascal to take it. From Sillakh’s side, he really wants the fight and there won’t be any problem with putting it together. But Pascal is the that can make or break this fight, because he’s the former WBC light heavyweight champion and he’ll likely get a shot against the winner if it’s Dawson. Pascal beat Dawson in 2010 by an 11th round technical decision and Dawson badly wants a rematch to avenge his loss and prove that it was just a fluke. It’s also a fight that would bring Dawson a good payday because Pascal fights in front of huge crowds in Montreal, Canada, his adopted home.
Sillakh would be a very tough fight for someone like Pascal to take, because he’s an excellent counter puncher with a good jab, decent power few flaws. Sillakh won’t tire out the way that Pascal does in the second half of his fights and we could see Sillakh pound out a 12 round decision.