FaceMob
05-21-2007, 09:18 PM
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Another Bad Decision for 'Bad Decisions'
By Steve Kim (May 21, 2007)
I've been told that a few readers feel as though some of my monikers are disrespectful, chief among them being Jermain 'Bad Decisions' Taylor, for his penchant for being the recipient of fortuitous scorecards in recent years. In bouts against Bernard Hopkins (twice) and Winky Wright, most pundits believed he should not have had his hands raised in victory or have come out with his middleweight title intact.
This guy gets more calls than the Duke Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Once again that seemed to be the case at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN, as many observers believed that Cory Spinks outboxed him over 12 rather dull and boring rounds that had the boo-birds flying around early.
Some of you can still call him 'Bad Intentions'. In my book - and many others’ - he's 1-4 in his last 5 outings. So I'll stick with 'Bad Decisions' for now. And no matter how badly his cheerleaders on HBO try and tell us how good he is or how it's never his fault his fights are unentertaining, the reality is that 'Bad Decisions' has stagnated, if not gone backwards, as a fighter.
Some will blame his Hall-of-Fame trainer, Emanuel Steward, whose voice went hoarse over the ineptitude and ineffectiveness he witnessed on Saturday night. But the bottom line is that you simply will not improve as a prizefighter performing once every six months when you are not particularly polished to begin with. Coming out of the amateurs, despite his bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics, this young man out of Little Rock, Arkansas, was still as raw as sushi and hailed from a region that didn't give him the fundamental grounding his colleagues from other parts of the country had. He's gotten as far as he has in the business with his incredible God-given tools, spirit and tenacity.
But technically, he's hit a wall.
And by the time Mr. Kronk gets to work with him again, usually another three to four months have passed, and Steward is essentially starting over from ground-zero. With each fight you see the same lingering flaws: pulling back on his right hand (where he also lifts his elbow up, affecting the trajectory of his right cross), too much weight on his front-side, affecting his balance to a point where he always seems to fall towards his right, which then takes away his ability to throw combinations, poor hand placement, and a back foot that is still pointed, it seems, in the wrong direction. And when was the last time you saw him throw a sound left hook or go downstairs?
What's happened to 'Bad Decisions' isn't completely all his own doing. In this day and age of boxing, you won’t see prospects be given the time to be nurtured and cultivated to a point where they are finished products. Now, it's a race to get on either HBO or Showtime as soon as possible, where you then become rich young men, but also unfortunately, part-time fighters - who pick up annuities every six months – and over the long haul, incomplete boxers like Taylor.
He's only 28, but the last time 'Bad Decisions' performed more than three times in a calendar year was 2004, when he would make the progression from Alex Rios and Alex Bunema to Raul Marquez and William Joppy. Since becoming an HBO staple, he fought three times in 2005, twice in 2006, and will probably get one more date on HBO's crowded dossier in 2007.
But beyond just the sheer number of bouts has been the level of opposition he has faced, namely Hall-of-Famers, Hopkins and Wright, who he somehow went 2-0-1 against. But at what price? They have lined his bank account handsomely and added to his resume, but they seem to have taken away his confidence. Physically he's fine, psychologically he seems to be scarred.
Versus Kassim Ouma, a busy but light-hitting 154-pounder, 'Bad Decisions' spent much of the fight backing up. With Spinks, he frustrated Steward with his own unwillingness and hesitancy to just let his hands go against a fighter who couldn't dent his armor.
On the flipside, Kelly Pavlik, who stole the show this past weekend by bludgeoning Edison Miranda, has approximately the same amount of bouts (31 to Taylor's 28) but was allowed to breathe a bit more as a prospect, taking on the likes of Jose Luis Zertuche, Bronco McKart, Lenord Pierre, Fulgencio Zuniga, and Dorian Beaupierre - fights that not only padded the record, but built and retained a young fighter’s confidence while allowing him to develop facets to his skill set. At just 25 years of age, while 'the Ghost' may have gotten to the world-class level much later than 'Bad Decisions', he may have more staying power in the long haul. It's very difficult - or next to impossible - to really nurture a fighter to his fullest by just fighting exclusively on HBO or Showtime.
Coming out of the 2000 Olympics, Taylor was thought to have had as much upside as any Olympian, and was considered perhaps the number one pick of that class. And from a financial standpoint, he's been a success, both for himself and his promoter, Lou DiBella. But as a pugilist, he reminds me of some other past number one picks in other domains. Like a David Carr, the top pick of the Houston Texans, whose growth was stunted by simply taking too many hits behind a porous offensive line. A Kwame Brown, who looks like the prototype power forward whose hands unfortunately may be harder than Taylor's (if you ever seen him fumble away a pass, you'll know what I'm talking about) and seems to lack the natural instincts to be a great one and seems to paint-by-numbers as he plays. Then there is David Clyde, who went straight from high school to starting a game in the major leagues for the Texas Rangers, and who quickly became a washout and another sad story of unfulfilled potential.
Or maybe 'Bad Decisions' is like that boy-band who was marketed, promoted and pushed full throttle and sold a bunch of albums early on. But as they got older and their voices went all Peter Brady, we found out that they really couldn't sing all that well. Right now, Arkansas' finest is much closer to 'the New Kids on the Block' than 'New Edition'.
But this isn't all his fault. You wonder why his braintrust (whether it's DiBella or Al Haymon, really) allowed him to face his third straight southpaw and one in Spinks who has as difficult a style to decipher as anyone in the sport? In this instance, he was put in a no-win situation in facing another jr. middleweight. This was a bad decision made for 'Bad Decisions'.
Also, PT Barnum didn't give the people of Memphis (and St. Louis and Little Rock, for that matter) enough credit. While they had supported quality bouts in the past, they simply weren't buying the spin put out by DiBella, who once upon a time on top of his ivory tower at Time Warner would have scoffed at such a bout under his jurisdiction as HBO's boxing czar. The crowd looked like a lot like a Grizzlies-Raptors game. And judging by the number of empty seats, the good folks of Memphis were still enjoying their BBQ festival that took place near the arena.
Now that was a good decision.
BOXING OR BORING?
OK, I'm just wondering if Cory Spinks had an HBO contract, like a Floyd Mayweather, would the HBO crew have been so hard on Spinks for the manner in which he boxed Taylor?
Also, I found it interesting that a few years ago that they made such a big deal about the words of Jack Mosley in the corner during his son’s rematch against Oscar De La Hoya, as some sort of proof they just knew they were losing. Well, in that vain, judging by how distressed Steward was in the late rounds against Spinks, wasn't that an indication that they felt this bout was very close?
MONEY LAUNDERING
I've been told by a good source that HBO paid a license fee of over $3.5 million for Taylor-Spinks (a bout that lived down to almost every expectation) while the Pavlik-Miranda license fee was around $1.4 million (for a bout almost every observer knew was going to be a barn burner.)
Does this need any more commentary or does this sufficiently speak for itself?
WHO?
Just who is this 'web writer' than Lampley was speaking of at the end of his broadcast?
I'm going to have to log on and check this guy out. I hear he's pretty good. Bit of a smart-ass, but funny and insightful, nonetheless, I'm told.
FINAL FLURRIES
What about Pavlik? We'll have a full feature piece on him later this week....Anyone agree with me after the Zahir Raheem-Cristobal Cruz bout that excessive clinching needs to be penalized like any other foul in boxing?.....It's ironic that on a night when HBO honored Diego Corrales (in a very classy move) that Miranda tried to spit out his mouthpiece to buy time after being knocked down....I'll say it again, a guy does that on purpose, you should either disqualify him or make him go the rest of the round without it....Let's hope this wasn't Larry Merchant's last broadcast on HBO......
http://www.maxboxing.com/Kim/Kim052107.asp
Another Bad Decision for 'Bad Decisions'
By Steve Kim (May 21, 2007)
I've been told that a few readers feel as though some of my monikers are disrespectful, chief among them being Jermain 'Bad Decisions' Taylor, for his penchant for being the recipient of fortuitous scorecards in recent years. In bouts against Bernard Hopkins (twice) and Winky Wright, most pundits believed he should not have had his hands raised in victory or have come out with his middleweight title intact.
This guy gets more calls than the Duke Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Once again that seemed to be the case at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN, as many observers believed that Cory Spinks outboxed him over 12 rather dull and boring rounds that had the boo-birds flying around early.
Some of you can still call him 'Bad Intentions'. In my book - and many others’ - he's 1-4 in his last 5 outings. So I'll stick with 'Bad Decisions' for now. And no matter how badly his cheerleaders on HBO try and tell us how good he is or how it's never his fault his fights are unentertaining, the reality is that 'Bad Decisions' has stagnated, if not gone backwards, as a fighter.
Some will blame his Hall-of-Fame trainer, Emanuel Steward, whose voice went hoarse over the ineptitude and ineffectiveness he witnessed on Saturday night. But the bottom line is that you simply will not improve as a prizefighter performing once every six months when you are not particularly polished to begin with. Coming out of the amateurs, despite his bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics, this young man out of Little Rock, Arkansas, was still as raw as sushi and hailed from a region that didn't give him the fundamental grounding his colleagues from other parts of the country had. He's gotten as far as he has in the business with his incredible God-given tools, spirit and tenacity.
But technically, he's hit a wall.
And by the time Mr. Kronk gets to work with him again, usually another three to four months have passed, and Steward is essentially starting over from ground-zero. With each fight you see the same lingering flaws: pulling back on his right hand (where he also lifts his elbow up, affecting the trajectory of his right cross), too much weight on his front-side, affecting his balance to a point where he always seems to fall towards his right, which then takes away his ability to throw combinations, poor hand placement, and a back foot that is still pointed, it seems, in the wrong direction. And when was the last time you saw him throw a sound left hook or go downstairs?
What's happened to 'Bad Decisions' isn't completely all his own doing. In this day and age of boxing, you won’t see prospects be given the time to be nurtured and cultivated to a point where they are finished products. Now, it's a race to get on either HBO or Showtime as soon as possible, where you then become rich young men, but also unfortunately, part-time fighters - who pick up annuities every six months – and over the long haul, incomplete boxers like Taylor.
He's only 28, but the last time 'Bad Decisions' performed more than three times in a calendar year was 2004, when he would make the progression from Alex Rios and Alex Bunema to Raul Marquez and William Joppy. Since becoming an HBO staple, he fought three times in 2005, twice in 2006, and will probably get one more date on HBO's crowded dossier in 2007.
But beyond just the sheer number of bouts has been the level of opposition he has faced, namely Hall-of-Famers, Hopkins and Wright, who he somehow went 2-0-1 against. But at what price? They have lined his bank account handsomely and added to his resume, but they seem to have taken away his confidence. Physically he's fine, psychologically he seems to be scarred.
Versus Kassim Ouma, a busy but light-hitting 154-pounder, 'Bad Decisions' spent much of the fight backing up. With Spinks, he frustrated Steward with his own unwillingness and hesitancy to just let his hands go against a fighter who couldn't dent his armor.
On the flipside, Kelly Pavlik, who stole the show this past weekend by bludgeoning Edison Miranda, has approximately the same amount of bouts (31 to Taylor's 28) but was allowed to breathe a bit more as a prospect, taking on the likes of Jose Luis Zertuche, Bronco McKart, Lenord Pierre, Fulgencio Zuniga, and Dorian Beaupierre - fights that not only padded the record, but built and retained a young fighter’s confidence while allowing him to develop facets to his skill set. At just 25 years of age, while 'the Ghost' may have gotten to the world-class level much later than 'Bad Decisions', he may have more staying power in the long haul. It's very difficult - or next to impossible - to really nurture a fighter to his fullest by just fighting exclusively on HBO or Showtime.
Coming out of the 2000 Olympics, Taylor was thought to have had as much upside as any Olympian, and was considered perhaps the number one pick of that class. And from a financial standpoint, he's been a success, both for himself and his promoter, Lou DiBella. But as a pugilist, he reminds me of some other past number one picks in other domains. Like a David Carr, the top pick of the Houston Texans, whose growth was stunted by simply taking too many hits behind a porous offensive line. A Kwame Brown, who looks like the prototype power forward whose hands unfortunately may be harder than Taylor's (if you ever seen him fumble away a pass, you'll know what I'm talking about) and seems to lack the natural instincts to be a great one and seems to paint-by-numbers as he plays. Then there is David Clyde, who went straight from high school to starting a game in the major leagues for the Texas Rangers, and who quickly became a washout and another sad story of unfulfilled potential.
Or maybe 'Bad Decisions' is like that boy-band who was marketed, promoted and pushed full throttle and sold a bunch of albums early on. But as they got older and their voices went all Peter Brady, we found out that they really couldn't sing all that well. Right now, Arkansas' finest is much closer to 'the New Kids on the Block' than 'New Edition'.
But this isn't all his fault. You wonder why his braintrust (whether it's DiBella or Al Haymon, really) allowed him to face his third straight southpaw and one in Spinks who has as difficult a style to decipher as anyone in the sport? In this instance, he was put in a no-win situation in facing another jr. middleweight. This was a bad decision made for 'Bad Decisions'.
Also, PT Barnum didn't give the people of Memphis (and St. Louis and Little Rock, for that matter) enough credit. While they had supported quality bouts in the past, they simply weren't buying the spin put out by DiBella, who once upon a time on top of his ivory tower at Time Warner would have scoffed at such a bout under his jurisdiction as HBO's boxing czar. The crowd looked like a lot like a Grizzlies-Raptors game. And judging by the number of empty seats, the good folks of Memphis were still enjoying their BBQ festival that took place near the arena.
Now that was a good decision.
BOXING OR BORING?
OK, I'm just wondering if Cory Spinks had an HBO contract, like a Floyd Mayweather, would the HBO crew have been so hard on Spinks for the manner in which he boxed Taylor?
Also, I found it interesting that a few years ago that they made such a big deal about the words of Jack Mosley in the corner during his son’s rematch against Oscar De La Hoya, as some sort of proof they just knew they were losing. Well, in that vain, judging by how distressed Steward was in the late rounds against Spinks, wasn't that an indication that they felt this bout was very close?
MONEY LAUNDERING
I've been told by a good source that HBO paid a license fee of over $3.5 million for Taylor-Spinks (a bout that lived down to almost every expectation) while the Pavlik-Miranda license fee was around $1.4 million (for a bout almost every observer knew was going to be a barn burner.)
Does this need any more commentary or does this sufficiently speak for itself?
WHO?
Just who is this 'web writer' than Lampley was speaking of at the end of his broadcast?
I'm going to have to log on and check this guy out. I hear he's pretty good. Bit of a smart-ass, but funny and insightful, nonetheless, I'm told.
FINAL FLURRIES
What about Pavlik? We'll have a full feature piece on him later this week....Anyone agree with me after the Zahir Raheem-Cristobal Cruz bout that excessive clinching needs to be penalized like any other foul in boxing?.....It's ironic that on a night when HBO honored Diego Corrales (in a very classy move) that Miranda tried to spit out his mouthpiece to buy time after being knocked down....I'll say it again, a guy does that on purpose, you should either disqualify him or make him go the rest of the round without it....Let's hope this wasn't Larry Merchant's last broadcast on HBO......
http://www.maxboxing.com/Kim/Kim052107.asp