Sunday, December 04, 2005
Taylor Triumph
I was wrong, AGAIN. My excuse is that, in order to assure a JT victory, I took the obvious wrong position.
Our old friend, Bigdaddyo is also eating crow, with a little extra gravy.
...in the months following taylor/hopkins one, i have been an outspoken skeptic about jermain's chances in the rematch. without revisiting the scoring of the first fight, these are my observations following taylor/hopkins two:
1) jermain definitely did not lose the second fight.
2) hopkins definitely did not do enough to take the title away from jermain in the second fight...we could discuss whether jermain did enough to take the title away from hopkins in the first fight, but i promised we wouldn't go there.
3) at age 40 and in the twilight of his career, bernard hopkins took the 27 year old champion in his prime to the twelth round, and bernard hopkins convincingly won that twelth round!
4) at no time in the rematch did either fighter have the other in any real trouble.
5) i can't get a firm grasp of jermain taylor's true status as a champion until i see him fight a legitimate challenger also in his prime such as a winky wright, a jeff "left hook" lacy, or a sam solimon.
6) in taylor/hopkins two, jermain taylor fought dirty, holding and hitting. hopkins fought a clean fight. ...and i know i promised we wouldn't talk about the first fight, but that nasty cut jermain suffered in the first fight was from a "clash of heads", not a head butt. watch the tape.
...i viewed the contest from a bar stool (with a back on it, thanks tim!) at beef o brady's in maumelle. tim and rebekkah jones threw one heck of a shindig and i'll definitely be repeating that experience for the next taylor pay per view. rebekkah promised to go put on some make-up and sit with me during the fight, but that frickin' tim is always lurking around and it didn't happen. other than that, beef o brady's in maumelle is a first class spot for hot wings, cold beer, great sports viewing and good times with your drunk and obnoxious friends!
Our old friend, Bigdaddyo is also eating crow, with a little extra gravy.
...in the months following taylor/hopkins one, i have been an outspoken skeptic about jermain's chances in the rematch. without revisiting the scoring of the first fight, these are my observations following taylor/hopkins two:
1) jermain definitely did not lose the second fight.
2) hopkins definitely did not do enough to take the title away from jermain in the second fight...we could discuss whether jermain did enough to take the title away from hopkins in the first fight, but i promised we wouldn't go there.
3) at age 40 and in the twilight of his career, bernard hopkins took the 27 year old champion in his prime to the twelth round, and bernard hopkins convincingly won that twelth round!
4) at no time in the rematch did either fighter have the other in any real trouble.
5) i can't get a firm grasp of jermain taylor's true status as a champion until i see him fight a legitimate challenger also in his prime such as a winky wright, a jeff "left hook" lacy, or a sam solimon.
6) in taylor/hopkins two, jermain taylor fought dirty, holding and hitting. hopkins fought a clean fight. ...and i know i promised we wouldn't talk about the first fight, but that nasty cut jermain suffered in the first fight was from a "clash of heads", not a head butt. watch the tape.
...i viewed the contest from a bar stool (with a back on it, thanks tim!) at beef o brady's in maumelle. tim and rebekkah jones threw one heck of a shindig and i'll definitely be repeating that experience for the next taylor pay per view. rebekkah promised to go put on some make-up and sit with me during the fight, but that frickin' tim is always lurking around and it didn't happen. other than that, beef o brady's in maumelle is a first class spot for hot wings, cold beer, great sports viewing and good times with your drunk and obnoxious friends!
