12.01.05 – By Coach Tim Walker: As a writer you make an effort to be tactful and unbiased with your viewpoints. Then there are other times to tell it like it is irregardless of the reprise and potential scorn that you will get from readers and the general public. The rule that you will never be able to satisfy everyone applies often and it is applicable here..
The forthcoming supremacy or the reticent illegitimacy of Jermaine Taylor has been a hot topic lately. On Saturday December 4, 2004 I tuned in to watch what was considered in boxing circles as Jermaine Taylor’s biggest test towards his apparent inheritance of the middleweight throne. In my mind I thought “Well it is about time.” I had endured the Ortizs and Brewers of the division get manhandled by the smooth charismatic middleweight contender. After winning a unanimous decision over Alfredo Cuevas for the vacant WBA Continental Middleweight title he put his mark on the Bunemas and Riozs of the boxing world. Without degrading those fighters or Taylor’s accomplishments in beating them it was almost universally accepted that none of them could beat Taylor. William Joppy was said to be the step up fight that the public had been demanding. At no fault of Taylor this fight turned out to be more of the same in a different way. Excuse the pun.
Joppy, prior to his fight with Taylor, had officially retired after losing to Felix Trinidad and Bernard Hopkins. Still when the fight was announced many of us felt that this was the stuff that makes boxing sweet. The crafty veteran who relies on his tricks and ring savvy as much as he does his power and heart against the rising star who has the boxing world by the horns and seems to be steering it in his direction. What we didn’t expect was for the veteran to run out of heart before he ran out of steam. Midway thru the fifth round Taylor landed a multiple punch combination that finished with a left hook and ended with Joppy on the canvas. When Joppy got up he changed his game plan to fit the circumstances of the fight and decided that the best tactic he could enact against the 6’1” middleweight was to run. Him running was definitely Taylor’s doing but definitely wasn’t his fault.
Unfortunately not very many questions were answered in that fight. In all fairness there are a few questions about Edouard as well. There are two things we can count on when Taylor and Edouard meet on February 19. The first is that Edouard won’t run and second is that many questions bad or good will be answered that night. Let’s just hope we all enjoy the work these two professionals put in.