Jermain's Boogeyman: Kelly Pavlik

Looks like HBO may have goofed when they anointed middleweight champ Jermain Taylor as "The Next".

With his recent lackluster, disputed victory over Cory Spinks, his approval ratings have hit Defcon 1. In the subterranean area. I'm talking George Bush levels. The Ring dropped him from their pound-for-pound ratings, which is rarely done to a fighter who has continued to 'win'. He's being almost unanimously criticized on boxing forums. And his fans are currently only found on Team Hope flyers and milk cartons.

Is it fair for everyone to throw stones at the young man because of one bad showing? Well, no, it isn't. But take a cursory look at his resume and you'll see that it's deeper than just a 'what have you done for me lately?' gang mentality.

What you might notice is that:
- There's an astounding lack of natural middleweights.
- There's an astounding lack of punchers.

The critics and fans largely expunged him of these sins after his pair of fights with Bernard Hopkins. But since then, it was back to his old ways - fighting a man smaller than Bernard in Winky Wright, a man smaller than Winky in Kassim Ouma, and a man even smaller than Kassim in Cory Spinks. And no one from this list of killers could punch a hair off a gnat's ass (combined KO ratio = 45%).

The conclusion that you've probably already approached is that his promoter Lou Dibella has hidden him from punchers his size like they were the boogeyman.

Enter Kelly Pavlik.

It was long thought that Edison Miranda - a muscle bound, big middleweight with an impressive KO pct. - was the leading representative for the boogeymen lurking within Jermain's nightmares. But that was before he got blasted out in 7 by Pavlik; a tall, rangy middleweight with an equally impressive KO pct. The exciting, yet surprisingly one-sided fight of the year candidate served as sharp contrast to the boring, yet surprisingly competitive worst fight of the year candidate that Jermain and Cory pooped out on the same broadcast. And as if his stock wasn't low enough, Taylor went into a Floydian spill about how he's in it for the money as he ducked and dodged Larry Merchant's questions on whether he was willing to fight Pavlik next.

Well, shockingly enough, it looks like Jermain Taylor vs. Kelly Pavlik is close to a done deal for September 29th. If Jermain beats Pavlik - without controversy - then his stock will be extracted from the toilet and all will be forgiven. If he gets knocked out though, expect a two year 'midget of the month' campaign, where he fights yet another string of smaller, pillow-fisted fighters as he rebuilds his confidence.

Which is fine, as long as it's off HBO.