JERMAIN TAYLOR W12 JEFF LACY

As a performance it was effective enough, but I expected a bit more from Jermain Taylor in his win over Jeff Lacy in last Saturday's 168-pound title eliminator on HBO.

It’s difficult to be too critical of a fighter who practically shuts out his opponent on the scorecards, but Taylor seemed too tentative by far and did so much holding it was almost a punch-and-clutch victory although tolerant referee Lawrence Cole didn’t take a point.

Taylor, to me, was boxing as if he wanted to be sure he had enough gas in the tank for the later rounds, but he also seemed awfully wary of the ponderous right hands his opponent tossed hopefully. Maybe the so-called “no knockdown” in the fifth hurt Taylor more than he was prepared to admit. Although referee Cole ruled a slip, it seemed that Lacy’s overhand right had at least made partial contact. The way Taylor went into survival mode after this, as Larry Merchant noted in the commentary, he certainly acted as if he’d been knocked down.

There was some snappy scoring in spurts by Taylor, the jab worked well, but this was a safety-first performance in a fight where he had a chance to look really good, seeing that Lacy was available to be hit. Maybe this was the confidence-builder (Taylor’s term) that he needed after the consecutive losses against Kelly Pavlik. Also, while Lacy looked like a fighter who has slumped like Wall Street stocks ever since the beating against Joe Calzaghe, maybe being in the ring with him was a lot more dangerous than it looked from outside the ropes.

Taylor boxed like a man who was intent on not making mistakes. He didn’t really make any from the technical viewpoint, in that he hardly got hit. It was, I suppose, a performance one could appreciate without being enthused by it.