By Patrick Kehoe

When Team Taylor sent out their PR circulars, making public notification of Jermain Taylor’s decision to fight Britain’s WBC super-middleweight champion Carl Froch, they couldn’t resist injecting a rhetorical disclaimer intended to put the world champion in his place: “Who is Carl Froch?”

Jermain Taylor had, after all, been world middleweight champion and notably the man who pushed Bernard Hopkins off his middleweight thrown, in July of 2005, backing up that landmark decision victory with another in December of that year. What failed to materialize for Taylor was a distinguished reign as middleweight champion. His cautious title defence winning run, defined by increasingly pedantic performances against Winky Wright, Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks, ended when Kelly Pavlik got up off the canvas to relegate “Bad Intentions” Taylor to the ranks of former world champion. Being a champion never seemed to suit Taylor; it was as if reaching the summit of boxing, in dethroning the legend of Hopkins, had burned away the hard shell of ambitious egoism so fundamental for true ring predators. Experts noted Taylor’s technical development seemed arrested, his wellspring of combative concentration looked to be drying up, at the ripe old age of 28.

What was wrong with Jermain Taylor was thee metaphysical question neither he nor his intimates could answer. Then Kelly Pavlik appeared in his rear view mirror.

The fact of Jermain Taylor’s restitution – by boxing and bludgeoning old pal Jeff Lacy in October, 2008 – remains a debating point within boxing circles. Over the twelve rounds against Lacy in Nashville, Tennessee, Taylor did show that he was capable of fighting with a distinctive mixture of discipline, power and consistency, against a quality opponent. True enough, Taylor fought brilliantly at times, even showed considerable late round endurance, a gnawing problem for him; however, Lacy was as safe as he was dangerous, as predictable as he was capable, having seen the best of his ring quality eviscerated by super-middleweight legend Joe Calzaghe, in March, 2006.

Proving yourself against softened old pals can be self-delusional, as often as it can be validating.

The primary issue for Taylor continuing on in boxing post-Pavlik was finding out if the Arkansas hero was still interested in paying the high price elite boxing demands. No wonder we have heard so much about Taylor enjoying his Miami based training camp, as the Froch fight draws near. Aside from Taylor’s irritating habit of either fighting with amateurish disregard of tactical fundaments – laying on the ropes against Wright – or going walkabout during an otherwise solid performance – as against Ouma – was money going to be enough to drive Taylor any longer? His own promoter Lou DiBella has said Jermain Taylor can be considered “basically financially set” leading one to wonder is going in search of a historical legacy enough?

Pride, money, title belts, reversing fate, proving the critics wrong, reaching forward for past glory, becoming again the best at what you do, could Jermain Taylor really be expected to give reasons for what he’s attempting in continuing on in boxing. Leave that a rhetorical question, Taylor wishes it so. So why do we demand clichés of ambitious men, when in the fullness of their times and primes they so wilfully live out the lasting determinations of what makes them who they are? Barring injury, Taylor will fight Froch.

And yet fans do wonder and do question what remains of what Jermain could have become as a champion. One can easily forget that Carl Froch is the older man, if only chronologically, at 31, to Taylor’s 30 years. Though Taylor seems a fighter from an earlier generation and we might well think of Taylor in the past tense because he failed to make his succession of Bernard Hopkins into the Jermain Taylor Era.

And how near is Taylor to the end? Having to battle a hungry, talented, no-name belt holder on the rise is not what Taylor wants from the business side of boxing, at this stage of his career. “There really wasn’t a real number two option,” promoter Lou DiBella has admitted. Indeed, fighting in a 4,000 seat venue, even if it`s the Foxwoods Casino, puts Taylor c.2009 into red ink context, if stardom is your measure.

The dealmakers at HBO were less than impressed, over all, when Taylor-Froch was floated to them. Cable competitors Showtime willingly decided to take a refinanced Jermain Taylor as a glass half full. Still indelibly, the rematch loss to Pavlik has devalued Taylor’s relative marketability to the point where Taylor fighting on HBO is, for the foreseeable future problematic, unless he was willing to go a third time against Hopkins or somehow tempt Joe Calzaghe out of retirement. Or win a title, yes we are being cruel! Certainly, HBO were uninterested in the Jermain Taylor-Carl Froch fight, WBC 168lbs title fight or not; notably, Taylor was not too happy either to have to settle for fighting the capable Brit, no matter how title driven he`s convinced himself to be heading into the fight. As late as December-January, Team Taylor were frustrated that a Roy Jones fight couldn’t be ignited, to name one name.

Clearly a rock and a hard place situation for the likeable Taylor, given Jones’ outing against Calzaghe, then the retirement of the Welshman and the fact Taylor had to fully comprehend more pragmatically his own standing in boxing, even with Pavlik having been bested by a former victim, Hopkins, and coming off what amounted to a vintage performance against Lacy.

It doesn`t matter if that proposed match-up was so much wishful thinking. Champions have a hard time comprehending things merely mortal and conventional.

Jermain Taylor’s only hope for big money fights remains theoretical, predicated on his continuing on with a campaign of restoration, at the championship level, keeping busy and getting his name an image out. But that doesn`t seem to be part of the mature Jermain Taylor`s readymade design scheme. He wants big fights, aka reasons to train. We are talking big money for 2 mega-nights work per year, as if this were still 2005. Jermain Taylor is resisting his post-Pavlik standing, in a global recession or not. Need one mention Hopkins’ rhetorical bombardment on the subject of his having been robbed in his decision losses to Taylor; the narrative of which has effectively become de facto history. It`s as if Taylor never did win their 2 title fights. Even Taylor`s greatest wins are crassly becoming revisionist footnotes to the greatness of Bernard Hopkins. Not much value in that!

In a very real sense, Taylor should be happy Froch has come calling, crawling. The brilliant DiBella is certainly keenly aware of just how fortuitous the Froch quest for respectability truly is for his client. Taylor`s lost opportunity to make of himself a singularity at the elite level, while a world champion, comes more and more into resolute reckoning at the close of this decade.

Nevertheless, Jermain Taylor takes up his position as mandatory man, world title challenger on another mission to see if he can bring ruin to a champion. Froch, unlike the common prefight web-scribing, is a thoughtful and intelligent man. His confidence taken as defiant boasting is just his perspective, the perspective of a champion coming to America to prove his valour and metal against a former champion, who in reflective moods, he concedes to be a formidable ring warrior. Froch is also determined to make Jermain Taylor`s scalp his calling card into the ranks of boxing stardom, for all the money and glory that can be grasped at that rarefied altitude.

Will Taylor choose to stand in against a tall, rangy, strong, determined, undefeated foe totally invested in winning and fighting through the unscripted destruction that title fights often produce? One has to wonder if Taylor himself really knows the answer to that question. Did the fact of his fighting such a technically superb performance against Lacy reenergize and reorganize his internal circuitry, that primary grid of powering resourcefulness many identified as Jermain Taylor’s essential quality as a prize fighter. Once he had the best left jab in the division, a radiating raw athleticism, a deceptive uppercut on the inside and something of a growing reputation of a big man who could actually scrap well on the inside, despite his telegraphed right hand and a periodic inability to pace himself over 12 rounds.

Interestingly, and perhaps fatefully, the same qualities almost to the letter are being used to describe the current champion Froch – subtract the stamina issue. Lead held low, at times taking too many blows distaining the simpler option to out box an opponent, all the while not utilizing all available tools at his disposal. How many overlaps will it take to produce a great fight?

For the last 5 weeks, Froch has been forthright enough to answer Team Taylor’s PR putdown by admitting that being a brand name in Nottingham, England isn’t exactly akin to having taken the entire universe by storm. Yes, to be a marketable some-body you have to go to American and put on something close to the performance of a life time. Training in Billy Irwin`s Niagara Falls, Ontario gym, Froch has been sparring with former foe Jean Pascal and firmly believes Taylor cannot be as resistant to all out warfare over 12 rounds as himself. And therein lays his core belief that this is a great fight for him, so much upside for the taking, a reputation for the proving. Team Froch believe the Jermain Taylor who was beaten down by Kelly Pavlik has seen his absolute best come and go.

Carl “Cobra” Froch has come across the Atlantic – himself unable to net a Joe Calzaghe fight – fresh faced, pink with earnest ambition to “be a superstar” and resolutely confident that he’s “the best super-middleweight in the world.” The talk surrounding Taylor mulls over his renewed commitment and being stronger than ever at 168, Carl Froch appears full bodied, startlingly primed, physically honed, confident without excessive pretence. One is tempted to compare words with reality.

Of course, Froch does cut, tenting to get hit a lot, his resilience and dogged determination perfectly exemplified in his trade war against Jean Pascal – his title fight win - a temptation for Taylor to come out swinging. Then we remind ourselves both guys are effective with the telegraphed right hand and inside uppercuts, so even Taylor’s best punches find a parallel in Froch’s go-to punches. And they both like to come out blazing early, just in case a sensational knockout is there for the making.

The fighters are worlds apart and joined at the hip, opposites faces of a coin, destined to face one another, each desperate in their own unique ways. Time is running out for both guys, for Taylor because he`s near the end and for Froch in spite of just having arrived where Taylor`s already been.

Taylor will have to fight his way in and out of manageable distances where he can apply his technical aplomb, while Froch boxes with enough assertiveness to be brutally consistent, each keen to secure a desired outcome in a fight both confess may come down who is more the man of the moment.

If you didn`t know better, you`d swear these guys are made for each other.