BoxRec

Kelly destroyed Miranda in 7 one-sided, but still thrilling rounds. Brutal stuff which blew the main event out of the water..

Does he beat Taylor? I'd have to give him a pretty good shot!

I don't think it was 1 sided. I gave Miranda the 2nd and 5th, in which he clearly hurt Pavlik with looping rights. Great finish by Pavlik.

Taylor is looking bad. I hope when I watch him vs Spinks again that I actually have JT wining! I know Spinks is a difficult target, but bloody hell, Taylor's heart doesn't seem to be in it.

Will it take a Pavlik to bring out his best? Perhaps. But Jermain has never met a puncher and who knows, he may be knocked out.

After hearing Taylors interview afterwards that he will fight whoever brings the most money, I think Calzaghe should concede to every one of Jermains demands to make that fight happen, and take it away from Pavlik.

On that performance, I think Calzaghe spanks Taylor, doesn't matter what country it's in. I'd say Joe would fancy his chances after watching that as well.

Final Fight wrote:I don't think it was 1 sided. I gave Miranda the 2nd and 5th, in which he clearly hurt Pavlik with looping rights. Great finish by Pavlik.

Taylor is looking bad. I hope when I watch him vs Spinks again that I actually have JT wining! I know Spinks is a difficult target, but bloody hell, Taylor's heart doesn't seem to be in it.

Will it take a Pavlik to bring out his best? Perhaps. But Jermain has never met a puncher and who knows, he may be knocked out.

I did give Miranda the 5th also. Before the 6th came I thought there was a chance Pavlik would punch himself out as Miranda backed up against ropes alot whilst Kelly punched away. Miranda def landed his fair share of bombs but it was mostly Pavlik outworking him. Then when the 7th came Miranda looked like he'd gone 12 rounds with Tyson! This was a great breakout performance by Pavlik.

Calzaghe would dominate him. A younger Calzaghe - the one who ground down Woodhall & Sheika - would have spanked him silly.

Taylor has killed off any demand for such a fight. Jermain must see off Pavlik or he will be seen as a disaster.

IMO Kessler is the best fighter in the 'middle' divisions. Taylor's rep has fallen like that diving bell in that Doug McClure film, Warlords of Atlantis.

Well done Kelly Pavlik. Showed them what you're all about.

Quite the TV introduction and he couldn't have asked for a better performance. The fact Miranda falls apart when pushed back played a part, but he showed a sturdy chin and a coolness easily overlooked in his finishing. Pretty good concentration too.

Miranda is hard and resilient as f_ck. Will there be similarities with Mayorga post-Tito, though? He got wrecked last night and I don't think the prolonged nature of it did him any favours (he was semi-concussed early in the fight) but these situations can also shed revealing light elsewhere, e.g. a corner situation, so it's not unfeasible he could come back to this level.

Pavlik was full of grace in the post fight interview and it's very possible a star was born (he can be good when he boxes, too). IMO pay attention to what he said afterward about his strength and power being surprising to opponents. Every fighter and their granny says it after a well-matched win, but it has real truth here.

Pity those two weren't the feature bout (even if they were to real fans) because the main event was as conceited as anything HBO has commissioned in ages. Pure trash: Taylor has went from being average to awful. Spinks had a cool, fluid poise right from the off - knew exactly what he was gonna do and found absolutely no objections; Taylor's post fight interview was a PR disaster. Though it was amusing to see DiBella and Steward throw fits in sync with the true nature of their cashcow coming to light. No doubt Lou will be asking for his Phil Collins tape back. Not much karma in the air at ringside last night, was there?

You people are judging Taylor on this one fight, Spinks has never ever been in an exciting fight and makes every opponent look crap.
I would still rather see Calzaghe prove he is the number 1 168 pounder and forget about Middleweights.

Although I don't want to see that fight again, I think Taylor owes Spinks a rematch. Thought Spinks won pretty handily.

For me Taylor should be 1-4 in World title fights now. Not 5-0.

Superb display from Pavlik, he just didn't give a f*ck what he had to take back in return.

A challenge to Taylor would be very interesting now although I wouldn't be surprised to see the champion turn on the class and take him out.

Pavlik was very impressive. Hoever I think hes 'Taylor made for Taylor' - Taylors just fought 3 of the best defensive fighters in the sport and won close decisions. I think his jab, boxing ability and speed will see him do better against Pavliks limited defense.

I scored Taylor-Spinks a draw but had Taylor beating BHOPS twice and Winky

Taylor should have lost his title to Spinks... he didnt show anything imo... his heart is just not in it and it makes a mockery of the title... if Taylor fights Pavlik he will have to either fight with his heart or else he wont last 5 rounds...

Haven't seen the Pavlik-Miranda fight as yet but i expected Pavlik to do the business. He is a tall, rangy puncher and is ambidextrous apparently and can clearly punch hard with either paw. Miranda is an exciting up and coming brawler who was afraid to fight no one but his bad mouthing antics weren't to my liking and he became a bit of a parody of himself.

Still both men stepped up to the plate and put their reputations on the line in equal measure and have to be respected for that. Boxing needs more of it.

Amazing fight that was action all the way - You knew both fighters had the potential to KO the other so although Pavlik was doing the most Miranda was landing some pretty big bombs of his own - I could only give Miranda 2 rounds but although behind he still looked dangerous until the first knockdown came - Pavlik could see the winning line and kept up the pressure winning in round 7 knocking Miranda down for the third time - Best fight I have seen in a long while - Taylor v Spinks was boring by comparison - Spinks wanted it more than Taylor and he and his corner thought they had done enough to win - Had Taylor not been the champion I think Spinks may have got the decision - Not quite enough to take the titles IMO from the reigning champion but a decent effort anyway - Taylor just hasnt got the attitude or stamina anymore to keep winning and Calzaghe or Pavlik would take away his unbeaton record for sure - Actually, I dont want to see Joe fight Taylor, I would far prefer him in with Kessler - Kessler is THE FIGHT that Joe needs - Win that and nobody could argue about Calzaghe being the best (except perhaps Froch) - Beating Taylor would do little to enhance Joes credibility and reputation because Taylor is heading for defeat in his next fight either by Joe or Pavlik - Taylor seems to have lost the huge desire he once had - I say let Pavlik have him and go all out for Kessler - Give Palle whatever he wants to get the fight on, its too important for Joe to miss out on - I hope FW forgets Taylor now and concentrates all his efforts on Joe v Kessler.

Just watched Taylor v Spinks again and after having it to Spinks by 1 last night I now have it to Taylor by 2 upon rewatching.

Bitterly disappointing from Taylor. He was actually focusing on JAB and DEFENSE v Spinks! I don't thik he scored a right hand after round 8.

He needs to fight someone who isn't hard to hit. In that case Jermain needs either Pavlik or Calzaghe. Both of whom are easy to land on.

I won't say that because Taylor was drab v Spinks that he can't beat Pavlik. Doesn't work that way. But Taylor has never been hit particularly hard and Pavlik can throw some bone crunchers.

btw, I think Pavlik is better than he looked in last night's savage fight. He put all into pushing Edison back. Because Edison was super confident and a bully.

Taylor comes across as a complete ass after saying "I'll fight Pavlik but the money has to be right." Pavlik is his mandatory FFS!

Final Fight wrote:Just watched Taylor v Spinks again and after having it to Spinks by 1 last night I now have it to Taylor by 2 upon rewatching.

Bitterly disappointing from Taylor. He was actually focusing on JAB and DEFENSE v Spinks! I don't thik he scored a right hand after round 8.

He needs to fight someone who isn't hard to hit. In that case Jermain needs either Pavlik or Calzaghe. Both of whom are easy to land on.

I won't say that because Taylor was drab v Spinks that he can't beat Pavlik. Doesn't work that way. But Taylor has never been hit particularly hard and Pavlik can throw some bone crunchers.

btw, I think Pavlik is better than he looked in last night's savage fight. He put all into pushing Edison back. Because Edison was super confident and a bully.

Taylor comes across as a complete ass after saying "I'll fight Pavlik but the money has to be right." Pavlik is his mandatory FFS!

utter BS isnt it, the whole world wants to see him fight Pavlik but he would rather vacate. prick - if the belt werent nothing what did you pay sanctioning fees for? the belt is only meaningful when they want it to be? let him vacate, i hope he breaks his hand on a heavy bag and we see no more of him. what is it with these people?

if he vacates we might get Pavlik VS Abraham, a much better fight all round

I think Taylor's got so used to $5-6mil paydays for fighting junior middleweights that he thinks he's worth more to fight a dangerous middle. I hope JT realises he has a lot to prove & if he is a prat with a bad attitude at least pretend you're not.

Also, I hope this marks a change in the way DiBella fighters are brought along. Jermain got his title shot because of a flashy record (built on junior middles) + impressive KO win on Hopkins undercard. He should've been matched with ppl who could give him 1 problem at a time. Now JT has to play catchup with each fight.

Andre Berto's a fine prospect but he's still facing guys who can't show him anything.

I fancied Pavlik to win, but I wasn't quite expecting him to do it that way. Fair play to him: He was already WBC number 1, but I think he knew that some people would see him as a mid-western guy with an inflated record. I'm right in thinking that he didn't have to fight Miranda, yes? He could easily have sat on his ranking, but instead he takes on the man making all the noise, and absolutely destroys him. Superb win. Love the way he went about it as well; let Miranda shoot his mouth off, stay calm, let your fists do the talking, and say your piece afterwards. Top man.

As for the performance itself, fantastic. Took it straight to Miranda and didn't give him a moments peace. Kelly proved a fair bit tougher than I expected as well. I realise that Pavlik hammering Miranda on the front foot is some way away from Spinks fighting Taylor on the back foot, so I'm not going to say Pavlik is now odds-on favourite to beat Taylor, should they meet (which, knowing boxing, they probably won't). But one middleweight came out of last night with a hugely enhanced reputation. And it wasn't the World champion.

Pavlik-Miranda was the best fight ive seen in ages. However, I think Pavlik is too raw to beat Taylor, even though Taylor seems to stink every time he fights these days. I think Calzaghe would beat Taylor though

great fight, definately not one sided, yes pavlik was the daddy but miranda definately gave his chin plenty to prove and plenty to think about.

it was a great fight for the paying public and viewers alike, what a barn burner !!

Pavlik Is a beast!

Taylor sucks!

Has a good jab, but he mostly bounces up and down on his guard throwing the jab or just stiff long single shots mostly a straight right.

I thought Spinks won 115-113.

I used to champion Taylor so much when he was on his way up, but so far I think he has been crap in all of his World title fights.

I know Hopkins and Wright are greats, but Hopkins threw away that fight (if you scored it for Taylor that is). Whether it was weight drained, age, underestimating or just sheer stupidity - Hopkins didn't work and looked like a novice at times (with his silly lunging attacks). When he did he was much better. I personally don't buy it was Taylor who made Hopkins think... Hopkins didn't do anything.

He was better vs Wright, but I still think Wright won this fight and won it well. Taylor clearly is a strong man and his strength did trouble Wright (if he didn't wobble him)... I thought with more workrate he would have won and possibly stop Wright. He had Wright looking very unconfortable - but still did nout about it.

Then came the drab effort vs Ouma and the no show vs Spinks.

The general jist of the Sky commentary is that Taylor is an athlete and not a boxer. A comment I would normally agree with, but not exactly sure. Has he a major stamina problem (or confidence about not last the course). In his last 4 fights his workrate has been very poor and its been VERY frustrating to watch.

On a side note, anyone get a little annoyed a Johnny Nelson's comments post fight. Very accurate, but glass houses and stones and all that. You couldn't find a more frustrating athlete than Nelson, who had the perfect physique all the tools but a missing ingredient.... yet, he was slagging off Taylor for the exact same thing.

Man Spinks can cry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FFVhsFyFzQ

Manos de Oro wrote: Pavlik was full of grace in the post fight interview and it's very possible a star was born (he can be good when he boxes, too). IMO pay attention to what he said afterward about his strength and power being surprising to opponents. Every fighter and their granny says it after a well-matched win, but it has real truth here.

Pity those two weren't the feature bout (even if they were to real fans) because the main event was as conceited as anything HBO has commissioned in ages. Pure trash: Taylor has went from being average to awful. Spinks had a cool, fluid poise right from the off - knew exactly what he was gonna do and found absolutely no objections; Taylor's post fight interview was a PR disaster. Though it was amusing to see DiBella and Steward throw fits in sync with the true nature of their cashcow coming to light. No doubt Lou will be asking for his Phil Collins tape back. Not much karma in the air at ringside last night, was there?

Interestingly, Pavlik-Miranda was scheduled for a separate, Top Rank card but with it being sanctioned as a WBC elim and all, was moved

Ok so Taylor has looked poor. I think he does not want to fight so they should put him in with Pavlik at 160. Taylor can cruise against these little guys. Give him someone who will force him to fight and see if he can dredged up the will. If he does he will put it all together, if he doesn't he will get KO'd and Pavlik will rule.

shit, I've been saying this for about 8 months that he needs someone to physically confront him, test his chin, give him openings and just maybe a chance to carve out his own reign. normal reply from ppl big on Taylor is that, "But Taylor fights A-fighters."

There is such a stubbornness in attitude to the middles. Such as, "Pavlik can't beat Miranda, because Miranda has fought the better comp." Good to see them shattered in 1 night.

Right now Taylor is in a bit of a young Toney predicament. When Toney always got the benefit of the doubt in close/controversial/split/majority decisions vs some slick or masterful fighters. Toney was given respect, but regarded with some suspicion. Until - he fought the aggressive Barkley, a bout that showcased all of Toney's qualities as a boxer.

Taylor was as ineffective and frustrating as ever - for a multi million pound middleweight champ, his reign has been a real series of non events. When he retires, it'll be like he was never even there...

Manny was tearing his hair out!

What a fighter Pavlik is, he seems like he's made of steel and deserves all the big paydays that will surely come his way now.

I hope Miranda recovers ok, that was a hell of a beating he took and he's brought a lot of big punching excitement to a division unlucky enough to have such a lacklustre champ at it's helm.