Jermain Taylor returns. Dirrell also on the card

[Fitz]

http://ringtv.craveonline.com/blog/17031...for-dec-30

Quote:Leon Lawson, the uncle and trainer of switch-hitting supermiddleweight contender, Andre Dirrell, told RingTV.com that his nephew will return to the ring against southpaw Darryl Cunningham on the Showtime-televised Dec. 30 card that also features the comeback of former undisputed middleweight beltholder Jermain Taylor in Palm Springs, Calif.

The 37-year-old Cunningham (24-2, 10 KOs) was scheduled to fight 29-year-old former undisputed middleweight titleholder Kelly Pavlik (37-2, 32 KOs) in August before Pavlik cited issues over money for pulling out of the bout.

The 33-year-old Taylor (28-4-1, 17 KOs) will face 24-year-old Jessie Nicklow (22-2-3, 8 KOs) of Baltimore, who is 3-0-1, with one knockout since being stopped in the fourth round by Fernando Guerrereo (21-1, 16 KOs) December of 2009.

A 28-year-old former Olympic bronze medalist, Dirrell (19-1, 13 KOs) was last in the ring against Abraham in March of last year.

That bout ended in controversy when Abraham punched Dirrell -- who was far ahead on the cards -- while he was down in the 11th round and was disqualified.

Dirrell is the older brother of unbeaten super middleweight contender Anthony Dirrell (23-0, 20 KOs), who will face Canadian southpaw Renan St. Juste (23-2-1, 15 KOs) on Dec. 2 in a WBC elminator bout for the right to challenge Froch.

A boxer-puncher, Anthony Dirrell returned to the ring in October of 2008 from a 26-month ring absence that resulted from a 2007 diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Anthony was diagnosed shortly after he stopped James Hopkins in December 2006 and didn?t return to the ring until October 2008, when he decisioned Andy Mavros over four rounds.

[Big Slim]

Damn Fitz, can't you at least quote the article from the BU front page???

I'm kinda interested to see how Taylor and Dirrell look. I guess maybe the plan is to match them up at some point in 2012, with the winner becoming a semi-player again at post-SS 168.

[Fitz]

Haha.

You would have to think Taylor is done, especially at 168 though. He can't seem to avoid the late knockout, despite him being competitive or winning fights until that point he does get stopped. He has been out of action for sometime now as well.
He is a likeable guy though, so I hope it works out for him.

[KingEugene]

Hopefully he's found some remedy for avoiding getting stopped late. Given the time off I'm guessing he's refreshed and ready to get back to it. We'll see though. I wouldn't be surprised if he's fighting for a title early 2013.

[ViperSniper]

This seems like a pretty decent card there!

Dirrell has yet to impress me. The manner he fought against Froch and the way he behaved in the Abraham fight doesn't do much to anything. He does have skills though and would be interesting to see if he can get back int he mix.


Jermain Taylor is done! He was then and will be after his return. The guy has always had issues with gassing and now has to overcome the problem of not crumbling before the finish line. That has become a mental thing for Jermaine, it's not coincidence he was knocked out in the 12th moments before the final bell two consecutive times. Once is unlucky enough as it is!


I don't see Taylor hangin' with the top of 168 at this point in time added with the fact he has been inactive, has always gassed out, has been knocked out badly in his last two fights and now has to attempt to not being caught in the final seconds of the fight..that's if he last that long to begin with.

All of that said, that is a lot of baggage for a fighter to carry..specially one who is also known to not follow instructions the greatest and shows mental lapses inside the ring during the fight.


By saying that, having this time off for Jermaine may have been the best thing he could have done if it was certain he was going to resume his career at any point! Jermaine was a broken fighter after the Froch KO and think he has too much to face on top of that to have a successful return.

[KYLE THEEE SPINKS FAN]

I know a couple middleweights that got offered this fight. Caleb Truax and Andy Kolle both turned it down for various reasons. Taylor is still one hell of a fighter. He was dominating Froch for the first 8 rounds, and still has the skills. Hopefully he's refreshed and won't fade in fights. That's killed him most his career. I think he'll make one more run at the title though.