Posted on Sat, Jun. 17, 2006

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Taylor travels Wright path toward greatness

Middleweight champ gets huge test tonight against No. 1 contender

By Tim Dahlberg

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Talk to those around Jermain Taylor and there's a belief that the undisputed middleweight champion could be on the cusp of greatness.

"I see an intensity about him that I never see in other fighters," trainer Emanuel Steward said. "He has an inner toughness, and you have to be tough in this business."

Taylor already has put together a solid resume. He has won all 25 of his fights and has beaten Bernard Hopkins twice, the first time to claim the WBC, WBA and IBF titles.

Things don't get any easier for Taylor tonight when he meets No. 1 contender Winky Wright in a classic matchup of puncher vs. boxer.

The fight is such a tossup that oddsmakers can't even figure out who to favor. Taylor hasn't lost since the semifinals of the 2000 Olympics, and Wright has beaten every fighter put in front of him -- including Felix Trinidad -- since losing a controversial decision to Fernando Vargas nearly seven years ago.

Those streaks will be in jeopardy when they meet in a scheduled 12-round fight that will be televised by HBO beginning about 7:30 p.m. from the FedEx Forum.

"I'm always out to prove something," Taylor said. "That's the story of my life."

That story still has many chapters to go, but so far the 27-year-old from Arkansas has come a long way since coming out of the Olympics as a touted prospect. He won a bronze medal in those games, but for tonight's fight he will get $3.75 million to defend his titles.

He'll have to work for every dollar of it against Wright, the former 154-pound champion who was so impressive in dominating Trinidad last year and owns two wins over Shane Mosley.

"My determination is impeccable," Wright said. "It's going to be fun to fight the best middleweight and enjoy it."

Taylor hadn't planned on such a tough title defense after winning a second close decision over Hopkins in December. But Wright was the top challenger and wasn't about to wait and, rather than be stripped of his titles, Taylor agreed to the fight.

Taylor brought in Steward to replace his former trainer, Pat Burns, and said the experience of sparring tough fighters in Steward's Kronk gym in Detroit has made him an even better fighter.

He looked so good in his final sparring sessions that Steward's most famous fighter, Thomas Hearns, said he would compare to some of the best of his era.

"Tommy said he would be a problem for him, Sugar Ray Leonard or Marvin Hagler," Steward said.

Those fighters, of course, fought one another and a lot of others during a great era for middleweights in the 1980s. Whether Taylor (25-0, 17 knockouts) can get to that level depends a lot on how he deals with Wright and the defensive abilities he brings into the ring.

"You've got to come out of defense some time," Taylor said. "No one ever won a fight just with defense."

Wright (50-3, 25 knockouts) isn't known as a big puncher, but the southpaw fights behind a potent right jab and keeps his hands high to keep from taking too much punishment. It's a style that has bedeviled opponents from the time Wright was traveling around the world in the 1990s chasing fights until today.

"People say I can't punch, but you notice they don't go in there swinging against me," Wright said. "I can punch, I just don't go for the knockout."

Taylor weighed in at 160 in Friday's weigh-in, a quarter-pound more than Wright, who will be fighting as a middleweight for only the third time. The difference isn't much, but Taylor believes he is more of a natural middleweight and will be able to dictate the pace of the fight.

"I'm bigger, I'm faster and I'm stronger," he said. "It's going to be a battle of the jabs. When I win that, he's going to have to do something else."