By Eric Thomas: In the super middleweight showdown between Jeff Lacy (24-2, 17 KOs) and Jermain Taylor (28-2-1, 17 KOs), as expected, Taylor easily defeated Lacy by a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision in the World Boxing Council super middleweight title eliminator bout at the Vanderbilt University Memorial Gymnasium, in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday night. Read more…

By Jim Dower: Both Jermain Taylor (27-2-1, 17 KOs) and Jeff Lacy (24-1, 17 KOs) are in roughly the same boat, each of them around thirty years-old, and both coming off of a string of unimpressive performances dating back two years or more.

In Taylor’s case, it’s been three and a half years since he’s looked truly good, at which time he stopped Daniel Edouard in the 3rd round in February 2005. Read more…

By Jim Dower: After losing his last two fights to Kelly Pavlik, super middleweight Jermain Taylor (27-2, 17 KOs) will be hoping to get back on the winning track on Saturday night against WBC #4 ranked super middleweight Jeff Lacy (24-1, 17 KOs) in a 12-round WBC Super Middleweight Title Eliminator match at Vanderbilt University Memorial Gymnasium, in Nashville, Tennessee. Read more…

Los Angeles, CA (November 11, 2008) – On December 13, 2008, a pair of prominent top heavyweight world title contenders will square off against each other with everything on the line, including their professional future at Morongo Casino Resort & Spa.

The winner of Toney vs. Thompson, ‘Now or Never,’ emerges as the next major challenger to the Klitschko brothers, the reigning Heavyweight Champions. Read more…

By Dan Ambrose: After a week of a so-called retirement, former IBF super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy (24-1, 17 KOs) will be coming back to fight former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-2-1, 17 KOs) on November 15th, in Las Vegas. Frankly, I’m not in the least surprised that Lacy is coming back, because he’s still fighting well, is popular with many boxing fans, and is still highly sought after as a potential opponent by other popular fighters. He’s also paid well for his fights, even though he doesn’t currently hold a championship belt.

Lacy, 31, is coming off another less than impressive on July 23rd against Epifanio Mendoza, in which Lacy was given a 10-round majority decision win. In the fight, Lacy was staggered several times and on one occasion, in the 8th round, he ended up tackling Mendoza to gain a little time to recover. For a moment there, it looked as if Lacy wouldn’t make it out of the round for he was badly shook from a big right hand that he took to the top of his head. Mendoza’s power was quite exceptional, and Lacy may taken on more than he bargained for by signing on to fight a dangerous puncher like Mendoza. Read more…

By Chris Williams: Former IBF super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy (24-1, 17 KOs) battled long and hard on Wednesday night winning a 10-round majority decision over Colombian journeyman Epifanio Mendoza (28-6-1, 24 KOs) at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, in Cabazon, California. The final judges’ scores were 96-94, 97-93 and 95-95. I had Mendoza winning the fight by one round, although I could see the fight being scored a draw, but definitely not a victory for Lacy. He did little after the 5th round, and appeared to lose the 6th though 9th rounds by a wide margin while also being badly hurt in the 2nd and 8th rounds. Given Mendoza’s lack of popularity among boxing fans, I wasn’t particularly surprised that he came out the losing end of the fight, but let’s not kid ourselves, Lacy, 31, didn’t come close to winning the fight and should consider himself very fortunate to have been given the gift decision.

Afterwards, sounding more than a little defensive, Lacy, his left eye swollen, said “I think I did a marvelous job. He [Epifanio Mendoza] should have done what he had to do in the ring to get the win.” Read more…

By Nate Anderson: In the latest boxing news, WBC super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe has decided to vacate his WBC title, leaving it open for the next available contenders, in this case Carl Froch (23-0, 19 KOs) and former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-2-1, 17 KOs), now fighting as a super middleweight. However, it’s unclear whether Taylor, 29, whom has lost back to back fights against Kelly Pavlik, would be interested in facing the hard-hitting but largely unknown Froch, as Taylor has been reportedly showing interest in fighting former IBF super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy instead. A fight against the still popular Lacy, though greatly diminished since his loss to Calzaghe in 2006, would likely be a much more appealing fight in terms of the media than a bout against Froch, even without a title on the line.

Froch, 30, has been waiting in the wings for a title shot for more than a year, hoping either Calzaghe or Mikkel Kessler would give him a shot at their titles. Read more…

By David Lahr: In the latest boxing news, former WBO/WBC middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-2-1, 17 KOs) is reportedly considering fighting light heavyweight Roy Jones Jr. (52-4, 38 KOs) for June of this year. Based on reports, Taylor, 29, who recently lost again to Kelly Pavlik on February 16th, would be willing to take a lesser portion of the purse, letting the 39 year-old Jones taker the bigger portion. If the fight does indeed materialize, it would be a good move for both Jones & Taylor, for each of them are in need of wins over quality opponents, especially Taylor who is coming off of back to back losses to Pavlik. Read more…

By Jim Carran: For the second time in the past five months, undefeated World Boxing Organization/World Boxing Council middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs) has defeated Jermain Taylor (27-2-1, 17 KOs), this time by a unanimous 12-round decision at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday night. Though the fight was ultimately scored closely, with Pavlik winning by the judges’ scores 116-112, 117-111 and 115-113, in reality it wasn’t a close fight in the least. Many of the rounds were close, but there was little doubt who was winning the rounds, as Pavlik 25, was the much busier fighter and the one that initiated almost every exchange. Read more…

By Tim Williams: Ever since I found out about former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-1-1, 17 KOs) was planning on fighting a rematch with new middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs), I’ve thought that Taylor was either slightly deluded about his chances, or he had some secret weapon hidden up his sleeve, something that would almost guarantee him a win. Let’s hope for Taylor’s sake that he does have something that he does have some trick that will enable him to defeat Pavlik, because if he should lose a second time to him, it will possibly due damage to his boxing career.

That’s not to say that Taylor won’t still have opportunities for big fights, for as we’ve seen with Oscar De La Hoya, it hardly matters how many times that you lose, just as long as you mix in a win over former top fighter in between. Taylor, it seems, could do the same for himself by fighting someone like, say Roy Jones Jr.. Felix Trinidad or one of the other faded fighters on the senior circuit. The fans, most of whom only have a vague idea of who the champions are, would be totally in the dark about it, and likely see Taylor as still a champion. Read more…

By “Big” Nate Anderson: It’s often difficult for fighters to defeat the same opponent in rematches, due to a natural let down that seems to occur when going over old ground. Some of it may be over confidence, while others are perhaps fear based, knowing that your opponent will be determined more than ever to gain revenge. For WBO/WBC middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs), he’s going to have to work hard to prevent falling into the category of fighters that fail in their rematches when he goes up against former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-1-1, 17 KOs) on Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Read more…

By Manuel Perez: This Saturday night, former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-1-1, 17 KOs) attempts to regain his world titles against unbeaten champion Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs) at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. For many people, they seem to be backing the 25 year-old Pavlik to once again stop Taylor in a similar fashion as last time. I don’t agree with them, however. I’ve re-watched the fight several times in the past week, and after viewing it a second and third times, I now see that Taylor was well on his way to winning the fight, even without the near knockout of Pavlik in the 2nd round. Read more…

KELLY PAVLIK : “I know Taylor wants redemption, he’s a competitor, but that may be his downfall. I can tell he is more intent on beating me than on winning the fight and believe me, there is a difference in those philosophies. This fight is my sole focus. I’ve been watching more tape than I usually do. Jack and I have been working on correcting the mistakes I made in the last fight — I won’t be sticking my chin out in this fight. The rematch is going to be tough, but I think he has a lot more to correct than I do. I’m having my best training camp ever. Winning the title has added extra motivation to me. It has spurred me to raise my performance to another level…a level I have never experienced before..” Read more…

By Eric Schmidt: Since losing his World Boxing Council/World Boxing Organization middleweight championship last September 29th, by 7th round TKO to undefeated knockout artist Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs) at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Jermain Taylor (27-1-1, 17 KOs) has made a lot of changes to avoid that happening again, starting with signing on for their rematch to be fought at 166 lbs rather than 160 lbs, giving Taylor a little more power with which to work against Pavlik. Previously, Taylor, 29, had complained that having to strip down to 160 lbs had weakened him to the point where he wasn’t at his full strength. Read more…

By Chris Thomas: With little more than two weeks to go before the big showdown between former World Boxing Council/World Boxing Organization middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-1-1, 17 KOs) and new middleweight WBO/WBC middleweight champion undefeated Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs) at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, many fans are wondering what Taylor, 29, will be able to do differently this time to change the outcome. Read more…

In the latest boxing news, super middleweight Edison Miranda commented after his 3rd round KO of David Banks on Friday that he wants to fight either Kelly Pavlik or Jermain Taylor, whoever comes out on top between the two of them. Apparently, Miranda isn’t particularly interested in fighting unbeaten Canadian super middleweight Jean Pascal, saying “I don’t want to fight Pascal. He’s a deadbeat.” Miranda perhaps was saying in reference to Pascal’s poor performance against Omar Pittman on Friday night, a bout in which Pittman came close to stopping Pascal in the 7th and 8th rounds. Read more…

With the rematch fast approaching for former middleweight Jermain Taylor (27-1-1, 17 KOs) against undefeated knockout artist Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs) on February 16, at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the big question is whether the 29 year-old Taylor will have a better game plan this time around to counteract Pavlik’s slugging style and knockout power. To be sure, last time around, Taylor played directly into Pavlik’s hands by going right at him, trying to match him punch for punch and attempting to out-slug a known slugger.

Even then, Taylor, a vastly talented fighter, came within an eyelash of knocking Pavlik out in the 2nd round when he dropped him with a series of huge, lightning fast shots. However, in doing so, Taylor got a little over anxious and punching himself out while trying to score the knockout. Read more…

In a recent press conference, WBO/WBC middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik said that he’s looking forward to his rematch with former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor in a PPV fight at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, on February 16th. Last time out, Pavlik destroyed Taylor, stopping him in the 7th round of their bout in September. This time, the fight will be held at 166 lbs, at Taylor’s request. The added weight likely won’t make much of a difference in the ultimately outcome as both fighters technically way the same weight while not in training, so it will pretty much a non factor. “You know what’s going to happen next fight.

I”m going to be in there throwing a lot of punches and trying to make Jermain fight,” Pavlik said. Making it no secret, just like last time, Pavlik is promising to come directly at Taylor and force him to exchange punches with him. It’s a strategy that served Pavlik well, as his handspeed and boxing ability aren’t on par with Tayor, and if he were to stay on the outside, Taylor would likely out-box him and earn a 12-round decision. Taylor made it easy for Pavlik last time out because he didn’t even try to box him, as if he were attempting to beat Pavlik at his own game. It wasn’t the smartest thing to do, as it turned out. Read more…

According to the Boston Herald, Emanuel Steward, the former trainer for WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, says that Pavlik will be even stronger at 166 lbs than he was at 160 lbs for Kelly’s rematch with former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-1, 17 KOs) on February 16th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new weight of 166 lbs was written into the rematch contract, which was initiated by Taylor’s people who perhaps feel that he’ll be stronger at that weight and won’t have to strip down to 160. Read more…

Former WBO/WBC middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-1, 17 KOs) will be in the fight of his life on February 16th when he fights unbeaten knockout artist Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs) at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Taylor, 30, has a tremendous amount of pressure on him at this stage of his career, coming off a 7th round TKO loss to the 25 year-old Pavlik.

To date, it’s been almost three years since Taylor last looked good, at that time stopping middleweight prospect Daniel Edouard in the 3rd round. Though Taylor likes to blame his pedestrian performances on his opponents’ - Bernard Hopkins, Kassim Ouma, Cory Spinks, Winky Wright and Kelly Pavlik - style, the fact remains that Taylor has seemingly regressed as a fighter. Whether that be because of age or due to a mental slump, it’s unknown. What is clear, however, is that Taylor looks nothing like he did in the early part of his career. Read more…