Abraham vs. Taylor: Will Jermain Get Stopped Again?

By Chris Williams: It’s sad to see how former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor’s once promising boxing career has gone down hill all of a sudden. It seems like only yesterday when Taylor was considered to be the best middleweight in the division, beating the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks. Look at how things have changed in the past two years. Taylor has lost three out of his last four bouts, two by Kelly Pavlik and a recent 12th round knockout to Pavlik clone Carl Froch.

Things are really bad for Taylor, and with him now facing knockout puncher Arthur Abraham next Saturday night on October 17th in the Super Six tournament in Berlin, Germany, Taylor could very well be finding himself getting knocked out again.

I don’t care what people say. If Taylor loses this fight, he might as well call it a career. I can’t see how Taylor could come back from another knockout loss. It doesn’t get any easier for Taylor after Abraham. There’s Andre Ward, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Dirrell and his recent conqueror Froch that would in theory lay in wait for Taylor.

It’s not that Taylor doesn’t have great boxing skills, because he has excellent power and great hand speed. But his chin has failed him in his fights with Pavlik and his bout with Froch in April. Taylor was stopped in the first Pavlik fight and then staggered in the 2nd bout. He wasn’t knocked out in the second fight but he still ended up losing by a 12 round decision.

Taylor’s stamina problems are well documented. He’s had problems in his fights dating back to 2005 when it first became apparent when he faded in the second half of both fights against Bernard Hopkins. Little has changed since then, as Taylor wore down in fights against Ouma, Spinks, Winky Wright and Pavlik. It’s hard to say what has been the worst problem for Taylor – his chin or his stamina.

But he’s going to have to find an answer for both by October 17th or else he’s going to get beaten again, likely by knockout. Abraham is one of the hardest punchers in the Super Six tournament and will no doubt have seen Taylor’s fights against Froch and Pavlik, and will be looking to test both Taylor’s chin and his stamina by fighting hard. Abraham is an excellent finisher once he has a fighter hurt, and all he needs to do is land a hard enough shot to stun Taylor, and that may be all that’s needed.

Abraham is good when he’s moving forward throwing combinations. He tends to throw punches in large bunches and doesn’t stop until he’s thrown a large number of heavy shots. Having seen Taylor’s recent fight against Froch, in which Carl rarely hit him with more than two shots consecutively, Abraham might be able to take Taylor out if he can hit him with a half dozen punches in a row. Taylor could block a couple but then he’d take the shots and if his chin isn’t recovered from his last defeat to Froch, this could be it for Taylor.

15 Responses to “Abraham vs. Taylor: Will Jermain Get Stopped Again?”