Taylor amps up training for Pavlik

The former champion said he underestimated Pavlik in
September.

By JOE SCALZO

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

Jermain Taylor said he underestimated Kelly Pavlik in their first fight. On Thursday, he vowed it wouldn’t happen again.

“It’s a shame to say it, but it took a butt-kicking to get me back on track,” Taylor said in a conference call to reporters. “It was a wake-up call.

“Right now, I feel like I’m at the top of my game. Can’t nobody beat me when I’m at the top of my game.”

Taylor (27-1-1), who fill fight Pavlik in a rematch on Feb. 16 in Las Vegas, said underestimating Pavlik led him to go easy during training camp in August and September. That lackluster approach left him vulnerable in the later rounds, he said.

“I should have trained harder,” said Taylor, who lost his middleweight championship when he was knocked out in the seventh round. “My mind wasn’t right. I was the world champion and it was just a different mindset.

“This training camp, it’s all work. I’ll be honest with you — it wasn’t like that the last camp.”

His comments were interesting in light of his pre-fight comments in September, when he trained with Hall of Famer Emanuel Steward in isolation in the Poconos. Taylor told reporters before that fight that he had been training eight or nine hours a day, six days a week and was in the best shape of his life.

That contradiction wasn’t lost on the Pavlik camp.

“From what we heard, from the conference calls and the media and from the great Emanuel Steward, Taylor had his best camp up in the Poconos,” Pavlik’s trainer Jack Loew said. “Now we hear about how hard he’s training.

“If that’s the case, so be it. We know what type of shape we’re in.”

Taylor said he’s been getting up early each morning to run five miles, then sparring for 12 rounds or more each day to build endurance. He said he wasted a lot of energy throwing “stupid punches” during the second round of the first fight, when he knocked Pavlik down but couldn’t finish him.

By the sixth round, he was spent, Taylor said.

“I was beating this guy half-[butt],” Taylor said. “In the later rounds, I went into survival mode. I was tired. I didn’t do what I was supposed to do in training camp.

“This time I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to do. I lost what it took to become world champion.”

Although Taylor was a big favorite in the first fight, he had been criticized by observers for lackluster showings in his previous three title defenses. To that end, Taylor fought more aggressively against Pavlik, looking to prove doubters wrong with an impressive victory.

This time, he’s prepared to go the distance and isn’t worried about winning by knockout.

“I’m just trying to go in there and win this fight,” Taylor said. “I’m not trying to prove nothing to nobody. It’s all about me this time. I just want to go in there and make this boy look like nothing.

“I was beating him [on the judges’ cards] on just half-[butt]. Imagine what’s going to happen this fight.”

Big talk aside, Taylor did indicate a few times that he respected Pavlik’s ability. And it’s not just lip-service — putting in the extra work shows he knows he can’t enter next weekend’s fight unprepared.

“He comes straightforward and he comes to fight,” Taylor said of Pavlik. “He was at his best [last time]. And I wasn’t.

“In the sport of boxing, you’re not supposed to take anything for granted because anything can happen in the ring. It’s all about being in shape. A person can win the fight just by being in shape. Kelly proved it.”

scalzo@vindy.com