Boxing fans will get a chance of seeing the Jermain Taylor (32-4-1, 20 KOs) vs. Sam Soliman (44-11, 18 KOs) fight on ESPN2 on October 8th in a fight that will take place on a Wednesday. Soliman, 40, will be defending his IBF middleweight title against the 35-year-old Taylor at a still to be determined venue.
Soliman could have gotten a much bigger fight against WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, but he instead opted to face #13 IBF Taylor in what some boxing fans see as a title milking fight by Soliman. But at 40 and without much power, you can’t really blame Soliman for taking on Taylor rather than Golovkin or a top fie contender because the chances are that he could lose the fight.
Taylor has a 4-fight winning streak going since he was stopped in the 12th by Arthur Abraham five years ago in the Super Six tournament.
Soliman won the IBF title in his last fight in between Felix Sturm by a 12 round decision last May in Germany. Beating Sturm in his home country was an impressive thing for Soliman to do, because it’s not been easy for anyone to beat Sturm in Germany.
Taylor has the speed and power to beat Soliman, but what’s not known is whether he’s got the chin and the stamina. Taylor has been knocked by Carl Froch, Kelly Pavlik and Abraham after he ran out of gas in those fights.
Taylor fought well in each of them until tiring. Soliman doesn’t have the kind of firepower to really worry Taylor, which means there’s a pretty good chance that this fight goes the full distance unless Taylor gets really tired and gets stopped by one of Soliman’s light punches. Taylor has a better chance of knocking Soliman out then he does with him. Soliman does have the ability to throw a lot of shots. So it’s definitely possible that we may see Taylor looking totally exhausted by the 6th or 7th round. If Taylor fades, then Soliman will have an excellent chance of winning this fight.
