By Mark Workman

Saturday night, Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor is not only fighting Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins but is fighting to prove that he’s the true undisputed middleweight champion and that his controversial split decision win over Hopkins was won by him and not the boxing establishment that Hopkins feels robbed him.

This past August, I met seven-time Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz in Richmond, VA. He was in town with his family attending the JCC Maccabi Games, a tournament designed for Jewish teens from 13 to 16.

From the moment I met Mr. Spitz, one of the most striking things about him was the aura of extreme confidence that surrounded him. If he had told me right then and there, at the age of 55, that he was going to swim again and win his eighth gold medal, I probably would’ve believed him. That’s how confident this man was about himself and his abilities.

But confidence, reality and common sense don’t always go hand in hand.

Jermain Taylor (24-0, 17 KOs) also now carries that same supreme confidence inside himself after defeating Bernard Hopkins this past July, winning all four middleweight belts.

“If I don’t knock Bernard out, I’m going to win every round,” Taylor says of the upcoming rematch. “I’m not losing.”

Taylor won the undisputed middleweight crown in a controversial split decision. Many blame judge Duane Ford for giving the last round to Taylor, a round that most people feel Hopkins won. Many feel that one point made the difference in the fight being ruled a draw and Hopkins retaining his titles.

Hopkins, who reigned as the champion for more than a decade, has been harshly outspoken in defeat and maintains that he was robbed of his crown by the “system” that no longer wishes him to be champion as he nears the end of his long and successful career.

The Executioner has fought in more title fights than Jermain Taylor has fought all together in his entire pro career. There is no denying the vast difference in experience between the two fighters. Even though many are saying that Taylor will never be truly recognized as the real champion until he decisively defeats Hopkins this weekend, he still wears the middleweight crown and with that comes a whole new confidence level.

But will that be enough to defeat Hopkins, the highly skilled veteran who, before Taylor, has defeated every opponent he’s ever fought with the exception of Roy Jones, Jr. and Clinton Mitchell in his first fight as a professional? When he met Taylor last July, Hopkins (46-3-1, 32 KOs) was undefeated in twenty-four fights since the loss to Roy Jones in 1993, not counting a draw with Segundo Mercado and a no contest with Robert Allen.

Now that Taylor has tasted the success of winning boxing’s ultimate prize, I think he’s going to do everything in his power to go home with the middleweight crown Saturday night. He will walk into the ring at the Mandalay Bay Events Center not only knowing that he is the middleweight king but that he has already beaten his opponent once before. But will that be enough to defeat Hopkins?

Knowing that he’s beaten Hopkins before gives Taylor a psychological advantage that he did not possess in their first fight. Taylor will also enter the ring with the knowledge of how to beat Hopkins. But by the same token, Hopkins will enter the ring knowing exactly what he did wrong in the last fight and will most certainly do everything in his power to not make the same mistakes again.

Hopkins also brings with him a fiery revenge factor that I believe will fuel him farther beyond what he did in the first fight. He makes no effort to hide his true feelings about the outcome of the first meeting with Taylor.

"A robbery would have been a draw," Hopkins says. "A rape was to give it to Jermain Taylor."

This will most likely be Hopkins’ last superfight, and he’ll be bringing everything he’s got left as a fighter into the ring with him on Saturday. Without a doubt, he’ll be pulling out all stops to avenge his defeat at the hands of Taylor, a person he clearly does not like.

Hopkins has said this past week that he intends to fight one more time at the end of January. He’s not said if he’ll still move forward with the farewell bout should he lose to Taylor this weekend. But Hopkins also possesses Taylor’s same extreme confidence and does not believe that he will lose.

The winner of the Dec. 10 bout between Winky Wright and Sam Soliman is slated to meet the winner of Hopkins vs. Taylor II. Wright is favored to win this fight. I’m wondering if Hopkins will even want to take this fight against Wright, should Winky beat Soliman and he defeats Taylor. He would certainly run the risk of putting himself back into the same position he’s in now by fighting Winky Wright, one of the best middleweights in the division.

If he should defeat Taylor and then take the bout with Wright and lose, I don’t think it’s in Hopkins to just call it a day and walk away from that defeat, regardless of any promise made to his late mother about not fighting past the age of 40. I just don’t see how Hopkins could live with a defeat at the hands of Winky Wright any more than he’s been able to live with the loss to Taylor.

If Hopkins wins this Saturday, I don’t think he’ll take the fight against Winky Wright or Sam Soliman but will retire as champion and fight one last time in January against some no-hoper in an exhibition-type match that means nothing to his legacy but gives him a final payday and last goodbye hurray.

If Taylor should lose to Hopkins, his stock will most certainly drop a bit with boxing fans and HBO, whether they’ll admit it or not. But his career will be far from over, and he can definitely rebound from the loss. He’s just 27 and will only have 25 fights under his belt after Saturday night. But his undefeated record and the hype that comes with that will certainly be gone. But at least he will have lost to an all-time great and not some second tier fighter. But he can’t keep losing or the parades will stop.

There is also the potential for serious negative lasting effects for Taylor should Hopkins brutally destroy him as he seems intent on doing. All one needs to remember are fights such as Chavez vs. Taylor to remind us of how one brutal knockout can change a fighter and his destiny forever.

Meldrick Taylor was never the same after his first loss to Julio Cesar Chavez, and he suffers extreme brain damage today as a result of many fights that he should’ve never even fought after the loss to Chavez. That one loss to Chavez was the beginning of the end for Meldrick. He was never the same after that fight.

I’m not so sure that Hopkins can knock Taylor out despite his recent words to that effect and will probably win a unanimous decision if he beats Taylor. But Hopkins is fueled by anger and revenge and propelled in knowing that this fight is most likely his swan song, disregarding his planned “farewell fight” in January.

I think he’s going to give it all he’s got against Taylor, and then some. He really has no other choice, as he’s made it clear that he has no intention of getting “robbed” again by leaving the decision in the hands of the judges and ending up in the same boat he’s in now.

But will that be enough to defeat the much younger Taylor, a man thirteen years younger than Hopkins?

I think Taylor is also going to give it his all against Hopkins. He’s got too much to lose and too much to gain. He’s had his taste of success and the glory that comes with being an undisputed middleweight champion. He doesn’t want to lose that.

If Taylor can beat Hopkins this weekend, there are many big money fights that await him against top household names such as Winky Wright. There’s also the potential of fighting the winner of the upcoming fight between Shane Mosley and Fernando Vargas, should the winner of that fight be willing to move up to 160lbs to fight Taylor. There’s also the option of fighting the winner of Oscar De La Hoya vs. Ricardo Mayorga, should either one of them choose to move up in weight and take a fight against Taylor.

And, of course, there’s always the other option of IBF super middleweight champion Jeff Lacy moving down from 168lbs to fight Taylor, once Lacy disposes of Joe Calzaghe in March, something I’m confident he’ll do.

But like I always say, nothing is a foregone conclusion in boxing until after the fight is over.

Kingsley Ikeke will fight Arthur Abraham on Dec. 10 for the IBF middleweight title that Jermain Taylor recently vacated to fight the rematch with Hopkins and save money in paying expensive sanctioning fees. There’s always the option of Taylor fighting the winner of this fight, but both fighters are still virtually unknown to the general public and such a fight would probably be a low-money bout for Taylor. The rewards versus risk are simply not worth it.

And the fact that the Ikeke vs. Abraham fight is taking place in Germany and won’t be televised in America doesn’t help much in creating a bigger public awareness of either fighter. So what’s the point in Taylor fighting either one in the near future, other than reacquiring a belt he willingly gave up? There’s just too much more money in the pot for Taylor to fight the more well known names such as De La Hoya, Mosley, Vargas, Wright and Lacy.

Jermain Taylor cannot take Bernard Hopkins lightly and let his intense confidence blind him and prevent him from working harder than he’s ever worked before, or he will not go home with the middleweight crown he so proudly wears.

“I feel great about a knockout,” Taylor says. “I feel like Bernard has no power. He has no speed. He’s just looking for a way out. And I’m going to give it to him.”

Bernard Hopkins has plans of his own Saturday night and possesses a confidence and talent level that has been winning fights for him since Jermain Taylor was only twelve years old.

As both men make their ring walk on Saturday, the look in their eyes will tell the true tale of which fighter really brings the most confidence into the ring with them and who was dangerously over confident in the pre-fight hype.