Saturday, February 16, 2008
Friday’s weigh-in seemed awful similar to
the one in September.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
LAS VEGAS — Jermain Taylor grabbed the microphone, looked out at the crowd and yelled, “What’s goin’ on Arkansas?”
He was booed. So, he turned to the thousands of Kelly Pavlik fans inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena and yelled, “What’s goin’ on Youngstown?”
Again, he was booed.
All week, Taylor has vowed tonight’s rematch against Pavlik will be different than their first fight, when he failed to finish Pavlik in the second round and was knocked out in the seventh.
Friday’s weigh-in seemed awful similar to the one in September — wild, crazy and very pro-Pavlik — but he didn’t back down from his vow of revenge.
“Believe it — this time’s gonna be a totally different fight,” said Taylor, who, like Pavlik, weighed in at 164 pounds — two under the limit. “If I get him down this time, he’s gonna stay there.”
Pavlik smiled, took the mic and yelled at his fans, “Youngstown, baby! Everyone knows Youngstown people are the best! Thanks for coming out!”
The fans cheered, Pavlik flexed and the eight-minute weigh-in ended.
All they could do now was wait.
Marvin Hagler once said, “It’s hard to get up and do roadwork when you’re wearing silk pajamas.”
Taylor’s message leading up to tonight’s bout was that he got complacent as the middleweight champion, believing he didn’t have to work as hard to keep his belts.
“I didn’t do what I was supposed to do in training camp,” Taylor said. “It took a butt-kicking to realize it, but if that’s what it took, that’s what it took.
“I feel like I’m at the top of my game now.”
But is he?
And, more importantly, does it matter?
Back in December, former lightweight champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini visited Pavlik at the Southside Boxing Club.
He asked Pavlik, “How does it feel?”
“He thought I meant, ‘How does it feel to be the champ?’” said Mancini, a fellow South Side native. “I said, ‘No, how does it feel to be the hunted instead of the hunter?’
“That’s the difference. Everybody is shooting for you now. That should motivation enough.”
It was. Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs) started training for tonight’s rematch two weeks earlier than usual. After climbing the middleweight ranks for seven years, he told everyone around him he wasn’t going to leave the top willingly.
He got up every morning to run hills. He did grueling workouts at the Ironman Warehouse. He jumped rope, he sparred, he sweat, he bled.
“We can’t take nothing lightly,” Pavlik said. “We got ourselves in top-top shape.
“We’re prepared for anything Jermain brings to the table.”
Added his trainer, Jack Loew, “I don’t think [Pavlik] thinks he can be beat by anybody as long as he prepares the right way.”
Although there are no titles on the line, reputations (and pocketbooks) are at stake. To win, Taylor must use his faster hand speed and work his jab. He also needs to either keep his hands up or move his head, avoiding Pavlik’s powerful right hand.
Pavlik must stay aggressive, countering Taylor’s jabs and forcing him into the ropes, just as he did in the last fight. Taylor (27-1-1, 17 KOs) has a reputation for fading in the later rounds.
If that happens again, he’s in big, big trouble.
“I think [today’s] fight is going to be a continuation of the first one,” Mancini said. “I think Taylor will come out strong and they’ll both be throwing punches and it will be a slugfest for the first two or three rounds.
“Then, after that, Kelly’s strength will wear down Jermain.”
Taylor’s trainer, Ozell Nelson, thinks fight fans will see a different Taylor tonight.
“Kelly is ‘The Ghost,’” Nelson said. “Jermain is going to be the ‘Ghostbuster.’ ”
Mancini isn’t convinced.
“The difference between the amateurs and the pros is you’ve gotta be able to hurt people in the pros,” Mancini said. “That’s what Kelly can do. Jermain can’t.”
scalzo@vindy.com