By Dave Lahr: Former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KO’s) came in well under the 168 pound limit at today’s weigh-in, in Berlin, Germany, coming in at a light 166 1/4 for tomorrow’s Super Six tournament bout against former International Boxing Federation middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (30-0, 24 KO’s). Abraham, 29, weighed in right at the limit of 168 for the fight. It’s unusual for the 31-year-old Taylor to come in so light for his fights.

It could be indication that he’s over-trained or gone a overboard with his dieting for the fight. In his last fight against Carl Froch, Taylor complained of being tired from having taken off too much weight in training camp. This time, Taylor focused more on having a lean diet and keeping his weight low before he went to training camp. He didn’t need to take off 20 pounds in camp like he unusually does.

Photo Credit: Howard Schatz – However, one wonders whether the diet might leave Taylor feeling weaker and not up to the task of facing the powerful Abraham. Taylor will have to be prepared to move well for 12 rounds if he’s to avoid getting knocked out by the power punching Abraham. Taylor has the better boxing skills, but in the past his stamina has been a big problem for him. He’s worked on it in training camp with both dieting, and conditioning exercises, but will it be enough for Taylor to avoid running out of gas against Abraham?

Many boxing experts are picking Abraham to beat Taylor tomorrow night. One of the reasons for this is because Abraham will be fighting in front of a large home audience in Berlin, Germany. It’s difficult for visiting fighters to win in Germany. Winning a decision over there won’t be easy because visiting fighters have a hard time winning decisions in Germany. Taylor, however, might not get to the end of this fight if history is any guide.

He struggled in two of his fights against Kelly Pavlik in 2007, getting beaten twice and was stopped earlier this year by Carl Froch in April. Taylor’s chin is a big question mark in this fight, not just his stamina. Taylor is facing perhaps the hardest puncher of the Super Six tourney in Abraham, so he’ll have to be careful at all times to avoid getting hit by one of Abraham’s big power shots or else he’ll be counted out again.

Abraham is going to be looking to test Taylor’s chin to see if he can get him out of there. If Taylor is smart he’ll choose to use his jab and box Abraham from the outside for 12 rounds. He shouldn’t even try to trade shots with him because he could either run out of gas again or end up getting caught by one of Abraham’s shots. Abraham is slow and Taylor should be able to land without too many problems but again, he has to avoid getting careless like he was in his fight with Froch.