Jermain Taylor – JarryPark.com – How’s Taste My Website?

Mornin’ Muesli: 15 Random Thoughts From An Amazing Saturday Night

1. Kelly Pavlik is no flash in the pan

2. Miami sure does love them some Kimbo. What an amazing crowd

3. Even in defeat, that was Jermain Taylor’s best fight as a pro

4. Tank Abbott must be a Ric Flair fan

5. Other than the fact that there were no knock downs, I enjoyed the second Pavlk-Taylor fight better than the first

6. Ok, we’ve seen Kimbo fight two tomato cans. Now it’s time for him to fight some stiffer competition. Sean Gannon, anyone?

7. Nice to see a solid undercard on a boxing PPV

8. For Yves Edwards to be truly “back” he needs to fight a top-20 contender. Until then, I just don’t buy it

9. James Thompson needs to rethink the way he starts fights

10. Brett Rogers and Scott Smith should share KO of the night honors. Still not sure which one was better but both men looked great.

11. Very disapointed in Antonio Silva’s performance. In fact, props to Ricco Rodriguez. Hopefully this helps him get his life back in order

12. Bill Goldberg needs to take it down a notch. He is way too aggressive and I hate the fact that he is so visible in the cage after the fights. When the fighters are giving each other props he shouldn’t be jumping in there too.

13. Enough with the DJ after fights. And while we’re at it, enough with making the fighters wear EliteXC hats too. It’s so weak.

14. What’s with all the Shamrock vs. Kimbo talk? Aren’t we in agreement that if Shamrock defeats Buzz Berry next month that he should then fight his brother, Frank?

15. If Pavlik really does fight Trinidad next I will truly fall into a deep depression.

Saturday In The Park: Must See Multiple TVs

How the heck am I supposed to watch all the great stuff on television tonight?!?! Obviously, there’s Pavlik-Taylor II which Large did a tremendous job (as always) of previewing yesterday. Then, over on Showtime, there’s EliteXC: Street Certified. We haven’t talked about this one yet but it’s actually a pretty solid card highlighted by the eventual beatdown of Tank Abbott by some guy named Kevin Ferguson. There’s also Antonio Silva-Ricco Rodriguez, Edson (don’t call me Andre) Berto-Yves Edwards, James Thompson-Brett Rogers and Scott Smith-Kyle Noke. Not bad, eh?

Buuuut that’s not all. Tonight also is NBA All-Star Saturday night, which believe it or not, is one of my favorite sporting events of the year. Come to think of it, some of my favorite childhood memories have come on All-Star Saturday night. MJ-‘Nique, Bird, Craig Hodges, Baby Jordan, Vincanity (back when he was cool). Great moments, indeed.

So, my dilemma is what to watch live and what to watch on DVR. As of this morning I am leaning towards NBA until the PPV, then watch the rest of the NBA after the PPV, then watch EliteXC. Got it? Do you even care? Didn’t think so.

Or I could just follow Large’s PPV live-blogging debut over at The Sporting Blog (you go Large!) and then switch between the NBA and the MMA. So many options…

Anyhow, to get everyone jazzed up about tonight’s festivities I offer you these three vids:

First up, it’s Manny Steward cussing out Jermain Taylor in between rounds during the Cory Spinks fight. This was actually back when they were friends. My favorite part is when he says “I wish you would have fought Miranda instead of this.” Classic.

Next up, is an insane clip involving some Latino guy trying to convince innocent bystanders to get tackled by Kimbo Slice. If you ask me, the whole thing seems a little staged but, what the hell, it’s quite entertaining and offers an insane payoff at the end.

Finally, in honor of the NBA All-Star festivities, here’s a clip of second-year Utah Jazz forward Paul Millsap talking about his off-season boxing training regimen. At first glance it’s pretty boring but things actually get interesting when he spars against his brother. The best part is the local Utah station airing this has their sportscaster do some play-by-play coupled with some fake crowd noises. Mr. T and Roddy Piper would be proud of this one if you know what I mean. (I couldn’t stray too far away from the combat sports theme of this site so this was really the best I could come up with.)

Enjoy the action tonight my friends. I am confident you will make the right programming choice.

Will The Ghost Of Jermain Taylor Return?

One of the most anticipated boxing rematches of the last few years is just over 24 hours away and I, for one, can’t wait. Of course, it’s Pavlik vs. Taylor II. The last time we saw these gents they were engaging in arguably the 2007 fight of the year which saw the pride of Youngstown, OH, Kelly Pavlik, beat up on Jermain Taylor and, as a result, snatch away his Middleweight title.

Sadly, Taylor exercised a clause in his contract so tomorrow’s rematch will be fought at 166 lbs instead of 160 meaning the belt won’t be on the line. Weird, I know. And while I also know boxing titles are pretty much useless these days this fact still kind of bugs me. Just doesn’t seem right but, oh well, we are getting the rematch while the first epic is still very fresh in our minds so I can’t complain too much.

As always, Mr. Large (not to be confused with Mr. Big of Sex And The City fame) from No Mas and The Sporting Blog took a stroll with me in The Park to break down tomorrow’s mega-fight. We also discussed:

* Alexander Povetkin’s victory over Eddie Chambers a couple of weeks ago

* Should Chambers move to Cruiserweight?

* What’s next for Povetkin?

* Carlos Quintana’s shocking Welterweight title victory over Paul Williams

* Williams’ extreme weight gain before the bout

* Is it smart for Quintana to fight Shane Mosley next?

* Will lightning strike twice for Pavlik

* What does Taylor have to do to win this time around

* Will Taylor regret not having Manny Steward in his corner

All that and we even discuss a little Bute vs. Joppy! You had to know that I would somehow find a way to talk about my countryman.

Large – 02/15/08