Jermain Taylor will struggle against Quillin or Jacobs

By Allan Fox: Newly crowned IBF middleweight champion Jermain Taylor wasn’t ready to say whether he’ll be facing his IBF mandatory challenger Hassan N’Dam last night following Taylor’s 12 round unanimous decision win over IBF champion Sam Soliman.

Instead of answering the question by ESPN about who he’ll be fighting next, Taylor said that he’ll fight whoever his adviser Al Haymon wants him to. With that said, it’s quite possible that Haymon will look to match Taylor instead against former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin or WBA champion Daniel Jacobs next instead of having him face N’Dam.

That’s going to put N’Dam’s management in the position where they’re going to need to make a decision whether to force the fight or let Taylor get in one more fight.

Haymon needs to think twice about matching Taylor against Quillin or Jacobs, because those guys have better power than N’Dam, and they could potentially knock Taylor out. Last night, Taylor didn’t have to worry about getting knocked out by the light hitting Soliman because he didn’t have the power needed to trouble him. It was the ideal fight for Taylor, because he’s always done well against non-punchers.

Taylor vs. Jacobs or Taylor vs. Quillin would probably make Taylor more money than a fight against N’Dam, but that might be the only fight that Taylor takes as the IBF title holder, because he could get knocked out by one of those guys.

Haymon needs to think about matching Tayor against the guy that gives him the best chance of winning rather than the fighter that brings the most money, because Taylor will make more money long term if he takes the safe fights rather going for one decent payday fight against Quillin or Jacobs.

Of course, if Taylor could get someone like Floyd Mayweahther Jr, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Miguel Cotto to fight him then those fights would be well worth the risk for Taylor, because the money would be so good. But, Taylor won’t make the huge money in fights against Quillin or Jacobs. He’d be lucky to get a little more than $1 million.