Days ago a statement that Jermain Taylor was returning to the ring at 160lbs with his original starting trainer Pat Burns has now changed in less than a week. Burns was a strong positive presence in the return of Taylor. Burns was quoted as saying, “A lot has changed in the past 24 hours.” A shaky start return for a fighter who needs consistency as much as anything. I'm sure over the next few days more news will surface mainly because of the scedule return fight which is set for August 13th in Little Rock with his opponent yet TBA. Only six week to get things straight. cd2010: You posted in your thread Jermain is still young. Middleweights turning 33 aren't young. Also, besides a fighters age you have to account for his natural genetics for aging and his career. Chavez was 33 when he fought Oscar and Chavez was a shadow of the fighter he use to be (maybe around 75% off his prime peak, which is a lot) at that point. He was in his 16th pro year and his body was tiring. Some fighters have one to many brutal wars and they are ancient before they are 30. Hopkins (the ageless wonder) a defensive master (even though he gets hit, he deflects it in a manner it does the least amount of damage) prior to turning 44 decisively dominated and dismantled the much younger 26 year old undefeated Pavlik, even scoring 119-106 on judge Rubenstein's card.
My point (which often gets lost into topic sub-categories and boxing rants I get into & feels like a boxing historian takes over my post and lets it run - LOL) in regards to Jermain is he should stay retired. The 2005 stamina he (age 27) had against Hopkins for 24 rounds of relentless action, he was able to muster for a few more fights (2 more years). He carried it against Winky and foolishly allowed Winky to corner him and then get punches off. He beat Ouma easily, then struggled with a split-decision win over Spinks. Once he got to Pavlik the public had yet to see his decline but it was apparent in the fights prior. He had Pavlik hurt early and then ran out of gas allowing Pavlik to land big shots constantly and losing in the 7th round by TKO. The rematch wasn't anything special, he had plenty of opportunity but failed to cease any. He easily beat a way over-rated Jeff Lacy. I then bet him with the prop to beat Froch by decision. He would have won a split-decision but he was stopped with 14 seconds left. Six months later he was losing on all judges scorecards and got stopped again in the 12th round, but this time with only 6 seconds left. You can see in his demeanor and punch output he declined fast as a fighter and he also has little stamina when he needs it. Athletes call it getting your second wind during the mid-point of a match, or digging down deep and giving it all you got in the 12th and final round when needed. Jermain lost that years ago (nearly 5 years ago) and for some fighters a break helps their body recover. Unfortunately, Jermain I feel didn't need a break, he needs to break-out for good. If he returns I wish him the best and hope I'm wrong about him like I was about Mosley. The difference is at tough times Mosley appeared to dig deep whether or not it helped, I haven't seen Jermain dig deep since he fought Winky.
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