Saturday February 16, 2008 The Epic Battle Continues, Jermain Taylor fights Kelly Pavlik at a catchweight of 166 pounds in a rematch of their fight from September 29,2007. As we all know Taylor lost by KO to Pavlik in their first meeting and has opted to take an immediate rematch to get his revenge. I want Taylor to win as you already know from previous posts but I can't go to sleep on Pavlik because duh he did KO Taylor in their first fight. However I have heard Pavlik and his camp say they can KO Jermain again but a few words of advice to them don't sleep on Jermain. He almost had Pavlik out in the 2nd round. Sure he did not get him out but he was so close you can't possibly dismiss Taylor. Through all the boxing talk I have heard a lot of people have fallen asleep on Taylor as if he is a nobody, that could be their mistake.
What to look for in this fight is adjustments. As stated this fight will be fought at 166 which should benefit both fighters. However who makes the most adjustments in a positive way will more than likely win the fight. In my opinion Taylor needs to make the most adjustments. Taylor needs to find his jab and use it properly. Taylor has a beautiful jab and it is a hard jab. If he could use that jab and land a good 10-15 a round that will be great for him. Keep his left hand up a little higher. If you recall the right hand for Pavlik landed pretty consistent and also was the punch that hurt and finished Taylor. So Taylor needs to keep his hands up when he is not punching as his defense. He needs better head movement as well. Whether he dips or moves his head from side to side those movements can help him avoid the amount of punches he took last time. He cannot afford to be still and stand in front of Pavlik like last time. Finally Taylor's stamina and punch selection need to be improved. In the first fight when Jermain thought he had Pavlik almost out, he did not throw the proper punches such as bodyshots and uppercuts. Therefore he wasted quite a few punches to the head and when he did not land he tired himself out. A lot of times in a fight when you punch yourself out it is hard to recover which Taylor never did. I feel if Jermain Taylor worked on what I mentioned above he has a great shot of getting redemption in this fight.
For Pavlik I believe he has the mental advantage at the moment because he did KO Taylor. However a mental advantage is only as good as the person who has it and who uses it. It appears that Pavlik kept the same regimen in his camp as he did for the last camp. Pavlik has to continue to use his jab and keep his hands out. The reason he got caught in the first fight is because he dropped his hands and stuck his head out. Not sure if that was a lack of focus for a moment or a move to taunt Taylor. Whatever it was it almost cost him the biggest fight of his life. So he needs to stay focus and not worry about taunting. Obviously Pavlik has serious KO power because he has 29KOs in 32 fights. In order for him to beat Taylor he has to use his jab consistently and follow up with the hard right hands like he did in the first fight. Head movement for Pavlik will help him as well because at times Pavlik fights straight up which can get you caught. I think if Pavlik makes these slight improvements he may have another KO victory.
At this point the fight in my mind is a toss-up. Obviously you can't forget about the 2nd round knockdown that Taylor delivered on Pavlik. You know if Taylor would have made better punch choices the fight could have ended. However the end result was Taylor KOd in the 7th round. Despite what a lot of the public is saying this is still an even fight and either guy could get KOd which makes this fight so exciting. I can't wait and I hope you can't either. Enjoy.
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