By Jim Dower: It’s been two long years since former WBC/wBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (28-4-1, 17 KO’s) last fought and there are still of questions that need to be answered about the 33-year-old Taylor’s ability to take a hard shot. The idea is for him not to take punishment, but Taylor is going to have to be able to take a certain amount of big punches if his comeback is going to be a successful one.

Initially, Taylor doesn’t have much to worry about because he’s facing 2nd tier fighter Jessie Nicklow (22-2-3, 8 KO’s) on December 30th at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California. Along with the Taylor-Nicklow fight, Andre Dirrell will be making his comeback as well after a year off from the sport and will be facing Darryl Cunningham in a 10 round battle.

Ideally, Taylor needs to box, use his jab and throw combinations sparingly. It’s been a long time since he last fought, so Taylor needs to take it slow until he’s sure he can take a hard shot.

Taylor was at one time the best fighter in the middleweight division but his career tanked after a 7th round TKO loss to slugger Kelly Pavlik in 2007. Instead of using his boxing skills to pound out a safe 12 round decision, Taylor decided to slug with Pavlik and taken out with some really hard shots that left him on the canvas. From that point on, Taylor wasn’t the same fighter. He was beaten by Pavlik in a rematch in 2008, and then suffered two additional losses to Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham, both of which were knockout defeats. Taylor then decided to take some time off and rest from boxing. The rest has lasted until now, and Taylor feels he’s fit and ready to restart his career and find the same success he had earlier before his first loss to Pavlik.