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Jermain Taylor is one of those fighters who continue to win regardless of the odds. Saturday night, Taylor won an easy decision over fomer junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma. Ouma is a pure windmill, who loves to throw a volumious amount of punches in every single round.
In most of his fights, Ouma averages 100 punches per round, thrown at a machine gun pace. And, while he does not have overwhelming punching power, he simply wears his opponent out.
When he met Taylor, the windmill hit a brick wall that would not break. Taylor does not look like a classic fighter. Yes, he has a powerful right and a sledgehammer jab, but there are times that he still retains habits from his days as an amateur. Occasionally, very wild, wide punches accompany his sharp combinations, crisp jab and hard uppercuts. Taylor often fights in a retreating fashion and his power, while substantial, is not powerful to knock his opponent out with a single punch.
Part of Taylor’s problem is that he hasn’t been overwhelming, but at the same time in his last four bouts, he has beaten the world’s best. He won two close battles with Bernard Hopkins and managed to draw with the tricky, defensive minded Winky Wright. Ouma presented his own problems, a pressure fighter with quick hands. These are not exactly fighters that are easy to look good against but Taylor manages to find a way to persevere.
Let take his most recent affair with Ouma. Taylor took Ouma out of his game. When they stood in the center of the ring, Taylor’s power slowed Ouma down consistently. At no time did Ouma come close to throwing 100 punches per round and rarely did he connect on effective power punches. The only way that he struck an effective blow on Taylor way was by way of an accidental clash of heads. Beyond that, Ouma was reduced to ineffectual barrages that were often interrupted by nasty power punches or occasional clinches. [details]
In most of his fights, Ouma averages 100 punches per round, thrown at a machine gun pace. And, while he does not have overwhelming punching power, he simply wears his opponent out.
When he met Taylor, the windmill hit a brick wall that would not break. Taylor does not look like a classic fighter. Yes, he has a powerful right and a sledgehammer jab, but there are times that he still retains habits from his days as an amateur. Occasionally, very wild, wide punches accompany his sharp combinations, crisp jab and hard uppercuts. Taylor often fights in a retreating fashion and his power, while substantial, is not powerful to knock his opponent out with a single punch.
Part of Taylor’s problem is that he hasn’t been overwhelming, but at the same time in his last four bouts, he has beaten the world’s best. He won two close battles with Bernard Hopkins and managed to draw with the tricky, defensive minded Winky Wright. Ouma presented his own problems, a pressure fighter with quick hands. These are not exactly fighters that are easy to look good against but Taylor manages to find a way to persevere.
Let take his most recent affair with Ouma. Taylor took Ouma out of his game. When they stood in the center of the ring, Taylor’s power slowed Ouma down consistently. At no time did Ouma come close to throwing 100 punches per round and rarely did he connect on effective power punches. The only way that he struck an effective blow on Taylor way was by way of an accidental clash of heads. Beyond that, Ouma was reduced to ineffectual barrages that were often interrupted by nasty power punches or occasional clinches. [details]