Sharkie’s Machine
By Frank Gonzalez Jr.
December 9th, 2006
“Jermain Taylor And The Power To Win”
Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor
improved his record to 27-0-1, 17 KO’s after
successfully controlling the action and scoring the
better punches over rookie middleweight and seasoned
veteran Contender, Kassim “The Dream” Ouma (25-3-1, 15
KO’s). The fight took place in Taylor’s hometown of
Little Rock, where the Arkansan pugilist wanted to
impress his fans with a knockout victory. He hasn’t
KO’d anyone in two years now and as Taylor suggested
before the fight, its about that time. Taylor won
practically every round but failed to get the KO in a
fight that was competitive to the end.
Taylor began the fight like a Tasmanian devil
possessed with the idea of a quick knockout. He was so
wild that at times, he was off balance. Kassim Ouma is
no pushover and though Taylor won rounds, he wasted a
lot of energy with the pace he employed early on.
Flawed as that strategy seemed, it did force Ouma to
reduce his offensive output and not throw the volume
of punches he normally does. Considering Taylor’s
strength, it was too dangerous to be too open too
often to Taylor’s right hand. For all his heart and
grit, Ouma did get rocked quite a few times but he
always sucked it up and kept coming forward.
I gave Ouma the fifth round but knew it was only
because of the ferocious effort he unleashed in that
round. Even at his best, he couldn’t hurt Taylor.
Midway into the fight, Taylor suffered a cut on the
outside of his left eye. Ouma managed to massage
that cut with pity pat punches throughout the match
but Ouma’s lack of punching power was ultimately the
deciding factor in this fight. Taylor knew he couldn’t
hurt him and showed no regard for Ouma’s offense,
happily exchanging with him and winning the clashes.
Taylor has a lot of spirit but his boxing skills are
still far from polished, even with superstar trainer
Manny Stewart in his corner. To his credit, Taylor can
follow instructions, and when Manny said, “Shoot the
upper cut!” Taylor took heed, executed the order with
speed and rocked Ouma accordingly. Sometimes, boxing
skills beat strength, sometimes strength overpowers
good boxing skills. Taylor’s size, power, conditioning
and bad intentions proved the winning formula against
the smaller Ouma, who showed a hell of a chin, taking
a good deal of flush punches from Taylor during the
unrelenting 12 rounds.
Taylor dominated the action with cleaner punching.
Though he didn’t score a knockout, takes little away
from the fact that Taylor is a hell of a “fighter.” He
may lack the smooth flowing skills of a Bernard
Hopkins or Winky Wright, but Taylor has a heart like a
lion in the ring. His offense is his defense, as he
back peddles aggressively and counter punches with
authority.
Taylor has a pretty good chin too. Basically, he’s a
brawler with common sense. He’s far more exciting to
watch than Hopkins or Wright, who win decisions with
technical expertise that rival the excitement of
watching paint dry. Expect Jermain’s defensive skills
to improve along the way. He’s only 28-years old and
still approaching his prime. His wealth of experience
after fighting two great boxers in Hopkins and Wright
will keep paying dividends for the remainder of his
career.
Styles make fights and Kassim Ouma had a too tough an
assignment in challenging the champion Taylor in his
first fight at middleweight. Ouma gave a respectable
effort as he always pressed the action and kept a
range close enough to reduce the effect of Taylor’s
power. Unfortunately for Ouma, he was unable to hurt
Taylor or stop Taylor from catching him so frequently.
Taylor always beat him to the punch and landed the
stronger shots, particularly with his right hand.
Ouma’s lack of power and Taylor’s strength proved a
losing combination for Kassim, who appears to have
lost something in his move up to the 160-pound
division.
Just a few months ago, in August of 2006, Kassim “The
Dream” Ouma was fighting at Jr. middleweight. A few
months later, he moved up to middleweight and
immediately got a shot at Jermain Taylor’s WBA, WBC
and WBO Titles. I don’t understand the logic in that.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m a huge fan of Ouma, who’s best
known for throwing upwards of a thousand punches a
fight. I sympathize with his personal story of
overcoming harsh conditions during his childhood in
Uganda, from which he defected and evolved into a
successful prizefighter with an address in the US of
A. But that aside, what justifies Kassim Ouma getting
a title shot in his first fight at 160?
The middleweight division isn’t very well stocked with
exciting name brand fighters these days, but if boxing
is a sport, why does it not behave like other sports,
where you have to earn your way to the top?
Imagine if, after winning the Super Bowl in January,
the Pittsburgh Steelers were allowed to hand pick what
teams they’d play next season? If they hand picked
whom they’d play this year, they’d probably be on
their way to being labeled as one of the best football
teams this season. Instead, because of a legitimate
rankings system in pro football, the Steelers of 2006
are little more than a mediocre-ranked team this
season that won’t be going to the playoffs, let alone
the Super Bowl.
The question for those who administer the fight game
is, what about all the top contenders at 160, who
worked their way up the ladder and were bypassed? This
casts no aspersions on Taylor or any of the fighters,
but on a rankings system that fails to produce
undisputed Champions. By comparison with all other
sports, boxing is an ‘exhibition event,’ instead of a
legitimate sport, where merit decides who competes
against who and the best fighters have to EARN their
way to the top in the quest to determine who is the
true champion, of which there can only be ONE.
Taylor vs. Ouma turned out to be entertaining in spite
of the politics, as Ouma’s spirited effort kept the
one-sided fight fairly entertaining for all of 12
rounds.
In the end, the six foot one inch Taylor was gracious,
crediting Ouma (five foot, eight inches) with being a
“tough little guy.” He humbly admitted that his wild
start sapped him of energy. With good training, Taylor
will only get better. He has a good attitude and is a
good ambassador for the sport.
Kassim Ouma sported an “I love Larry Merchant” hat
after the fight. Ouma has a good humor and deserves a
lot of respect. He’s probably better off going back to
the 154-pound division, where he will not be
considered, “a tough little guy.” As for loving Larry
Merchant, aside from his regular irrelevant
meanderings, he does ask the tough questions while
interviewing fighters that too many other ringside
reporters wouldn’t dare. In this era of ass kissing
journalism, you gotta love him for that.
If Taylor has any plans to fight Super Middleweight
Champion Joe Calzaghe next year, he better fine-tune
his defensive skills and work on his discipline.
Calzaghe may be under rated in some circles but he is
a very skillful boxer with an aggressive demeanor in
the ring. Calzaghe being at the twilight of his
career and Taylor’s blunt boxing skills could put them
even at the gate come round one.
Taylor may not pack the biggest punch, but he has
enough power and an impressive enough work rate to
beat fighters with better boxing skills than he may
ever have.
