Wright’s trainer behind Pavlik, has advice for Taylor’s corner

Dan Birmingham is a former Austintown resident.

By JOHN BASSETTI

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Dan Birmingham thinks Jermain Taylor didn’t fight smart and eventually exhausted himself in his loss to Kelly Pavlik last September.

As for Pavlik, he’d like to see the WBC and WBO middleweight champion use his reach and jab more.

Birmingham won’t be in the ring with either fighter for Saturday’s rematch, but he will be an observer, just like he was in September.

What he saw that night was through the eyes of someone who knows the game — as trainer for middleweight Winky Wright.

Being from Austintown, Birmingham watched Pavlik-Taylor I with interest.

“He was spectacular and the fight was exciting,” Birmingham said. “I was happy for him.”

That, of course, was after Pavlik was nearly KO’d in the second round.

“We were all worried about that,” Birmingham said. “But he was smart. He held on until he cleared his head, then he went back to his jab and everything else fell into place.”

Taylor, on the other hand, spent himself.

“He punched himself out,” Birmingham said of one of Taylor’s mistakes. “He took too many hard shots over a long period of time, plus he just winged it. It didn’t look like he was trying to place his punches. He was fighting more off emotion.”

Birmingham isn’t convinced that Taylor’s change of trainers — from Emanuel Steward to Ozell Nelson, is going to transform the fighter.

“I don’t know about his old habits, I just don’t think he’s learning anything new,” Birmingham said of publicized remarks that Taylor developed bad habits under Nelson over the years.

To avoid another loss, Birmingham believes that Jermain’s tools need sharpened.

“For one thing, he’s got to keep his hands up and give Kelly some movement and use his hand speed and not worry about knocking him [Pavlik] out. He says he’s going to knock Kelly out, so he’s already got that in his head — going for the knockout. You should never try for a knockout.”

In addition to his poor defense, there’s another glaring reason Taylor took an unnecessary beating from Pavlik in the September loss.

“I can’t understand why Emanuel Steward couldn’t at least teach him some movement and how to hold on when he’s hurt,” Birmingham said. “He didn’t even know how to hold on when he’s hurt. At least Kelly, when he was hurt, held on and weathered the storm. That was smart.”

Conversely, in the second round, Pavlik stepped up properly and gave Taylor the shoulder and reached behind and held Taylor’s arm so he couldn’t throw any more punches.

“Even though the referee [Steve Smoger] was trying to break them, Kelly was still holding on and letting his head clear. Kelly made the referee break them physically rather than by voice command. That gave Kelly a few extra seconds.”

While Taylor has quick hands, hits hard and has a lot of experience, he’s still making some amateur mistakes, Birmingham said.

“Kelly is a lot more sound, technique-wise,” the trainer said.

Birmingham, whose full-time work until four years ago was as a painter in the St. Petersburg area, now trains mostly pro fighters. Jeff Lacy and Joey Gilbert are two of his other notable names, while his stable is also grooming a handful of up-and-coming boxers.

Wright usually arrives at Birmingham’s gym at 7 a.m. to work out and stay in shape.

“Whenever HBO wants us to fight, we’re ready,” Birmingham said of his southpaw, whose last fight was a loss by unanimous decision to Bernard Hopkins in July 2007.

At 170 pounds, it was the heaviest of Winky’s career.

In June, 2006 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Wright drew with Taylor — an outcome Birmingham continues to question.

“We won 9 or 10 rounds, so how did we get a draw? I can tell you how, because we fought on a Lou DiBella Entertainment card. If you look at that fight, Wink won nine, maybe 10 rounds.”

Does that mean there’s no love lost for Taylor?

“No, I like Jermain,” Birmingham said. “He’s a nice, respectful kid.”

bassetti@vindy.com