What happened to Jermain Taylor's power??

[dstew]

I think he's gunshy since the Hopkins fights. Hopkins' counters taught Taylor a lesson when he threw those wild looping punches, not to mention he didn't land any really cleanly. So not only was he punished for throwing them, they were not effective, which I belive is why Taylor is reluctant to let his hands go since then.

Sure he still throws big shots, but if you watch him he's much more tense and therefore he's not putting everything into them that he could. Lately he's been a very tense fighter overall; it's hard to transmit a lot of power when you're that tense.

As for his jab, it's still awesome when he uses it. Watch the 2nd Pavlik fight; Kelly walks into Taylor's jab more times than he would like. Taylor just doesn't double it up enough and follow through with the right as well as he used to (even in the first Hopkins fight he was throwing lots of double jabs). Pavlik himself said Taylor "hits like a mule."

The Ouma and Spinks fights were terrible matchups. How Ouma didn't go down from the beating Taylor laid on him is a mystery. And Taylor fought his worst fight against Spinks; it didn't help that Cory was running around the entire night making Jermain chase him.

[Stickman]

It just gets harder to knockout elite fighters...How many people have been able to knockout Wright? Hopkins? Pavlik? Spinks wouldn't engage at all and among the worst fights that I have seen. Ouma has never been down that I know of...

You're right, it's harder to get those early KO's against seasoned top echelon fighters. Also right about Spinks (or as I refer to him...Stinks).

Taylor can ****, but he doesn't let his hands go as much as he used to. I think it's mostly because he's worried about gassing late. Like someone else said, he waits too much. If you ain't throwing half what you used to, your chances of a KO decrease dramatically. Not sure why he's not as conditioned as he needs to be. Some people just can't get to that peak, some can. Maybe he's someone that can't. I really like the kid, he's good natured, humble, very talented. I'm not sure what the problem has been with him these last few years. One thing I'd have a hard time with (if I were his trainer) is that low left he carries. Makes me want to staple his left glove to his ear.

[RAESAAD]

Taylors power is still there....his aggression and confidence has been gone since he first fought Hopkins.....he knows he didn't win their first fight (draw at best)and him knowing that not to mention clearly being beat by Winky and having that called a draw for you, has made him doubt himself these past few years and fight more cautiously....too cautiously up until his first fight with Pavlik in which he went to war and lost. He returned to being cautious in their second fight.....I still think he'll beat Lacy as much as it pains me to say it tho.

[dstew]

To add on to what I wrote above; it's hard to knock out guys who don't want to fight. The only guy Taylor has fought that WANTED TO FIGHT in the past three years is Pavlik, and Taylor knocked him down in the second round. I believe he could've put him down again in the second fight had he let his hands go more, as he was hitting Pavlik at will most of the fight.

[MANGLER]

He's still got power, but when he fights top guys it don't show up as much.

[dstew]

I still think he'll beat Lacy as much as it pains me to say it tho.

Not only that, there's a decent chance he KO's Lacy. Especially if Jermain plays defense the first few rounds, giving them away to the busier Lacy while letting him gas (he was in terrible shape in the Mendoza fight). A fresh Taylor KO's the Lacy we saw after round 3-4 of that fight.

[Pullcounter]

When he was up and coming he was regarded as having a laser left jab and a powerful right hand.

Now general consensus is that he's somewhat weak.

I don't care what no one says in the first Pavlik fight, Kelly got hit with an equilibrium shot that dazed him and the rest of Jermain's blows Kelly just ate.

he can't pull the trigger ever since he got in the ring with hopkins.