By John Hively

 

Make no mistake about, Jermain Taylor is a real champion, not a paper champ, not a titlist, and he’s not an old fashioned cheese champion.

 

With victories over Bernard Hopkins and a draw with Winky Wright, Taylor has proven he belongs among the boxing stars of today. Wright is clearly one of the best fighters of the last ten years, and Hopkins has proven himself to be among the best pound-for-pound boxers of the modern age, a modern fistic wonder.

 

Sure, a person can make the case that Hopkins defeated Taylor in both of their battles, but the fact is that both tussles were close enough that there existed serious speculation as to who really deserved to win. Holding Hopkins essentially even in two bouts is actually quite a feat, especially if you get the disputed decisions both times. If Hopkins is an all-time great, albeit an aging one, then Jermain’s efforts against Bernard established that he might be on a similar level with the former champion.

 

Many people thought Winky Wright defeated Taylor. But other observers felt that Jermain did enough to win their bout or at least secure the draw.

 

Think about it. Taylor won the title from a future Hall-of-Fame boxer, then immediately defended the title against him, and then held his own in his next defense against another potential Hall-of-Fame boxer. That's quite an accomplishment!

 

Normally, a champion takes an easy fight now and then, and so too did Jermain. First he duked it out with the lighter Kassim Ouma, certainly no real middleweight contender. And then he chased after former welterweight champion Corey Spinks, another pugilist unproven in the 160 pound weight class.

 

The critics pounced on Taylor for getting into the ring with his last two opponents, but he simply did what many other champions have done. He never deserved the attacks on his skills, punching power and the choice of his last two opponents.

 

The same critics did not vehemently pounce on Ricky Hatton for duking it out with Juan Urango, a relatively novice boxer of little achievements, like they did Taylor. And where were the critics when Floyd Mayweather Jr. was tackling the unknown Henry Bruseles in 2005?

 

And now the champ takes on the dangerous hitting number one contender, Kelly “Ghost” Pavlik, a six foot two and a half inch semi-Thomas Hearns like monster who’s mowing ‘em down. Edison Miranda was the hottest fighter in the middleweight division until he ran into Pavlik’s right hand far too many times on his way to a stoppage defeat. Ghost has some other talented names on his resume, as well. But none of them are of the caliber of Jermain Taylor, Winky Wright or Bernard Hopkins.

 

Now it’s time for Pavlik to prove he belongs among the best of the sport, it’s put up or shut up time on September 29th. But Jermain doesn’t need to prove anything since he has already shown that he belongs among today’s elite pound-for-pound boxers, just as surely as Hopkins and Wright have proven they belong.

 

A victory by the Ghost will proved that he’s come a long way, and that he also belongs up there on the pound-for-pound lists with Hopkins, Wright and Taylor. But first, he needs to get by Jermain, and that’s far from a certainty. Given the champ’s fistic achievements, this will not likely be an easy task for the Ghost.

 

Despite sometimes unwarranted criticism, Taylor has proven he is a real champion. He hasn't ducked anybody, and he has been fighting the best in his division. Hopkins, Wright and Pavlik are better fighters than the most accomplished boxers Hopkins ever defeated when he was the middleweight titlist; the two best were the beefed up welterweights Felix Trinidad and the aging Oscar De La Hoya.