For information or questions regarding Jermain Taylor merchandise, contact
Merchandise@
jermaintaylor.com
Jermain Taylor is ready for some fishing before fighting.
BY CHRIS GIVENSARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Jermain Taylor is ready for some fishing before fighting.
Little Rock's Taylor, who is coming off what he said were two physically and emotionally draining losses to middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, will likely be facing another big name when he gets in the ring again. But it may be awhile.
Lou DiBella, Taylor's promoter, said he is working toward closing a deal for Taylor to fight former champion Felix Trinidad Jr., but not until late September or early October.
DiBella's initial plan was to get Taylor back in the ring sometime in June, and he was working on fights with Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr. and Ricardo Mayorga. But in the weeks after his 12-round loss to Pavlik on Feb. 15, Taylor and his trainer, Ozell Nelson, decided Taylor needed some time off. The fights with Mayorga and Jones disappeared, but Trinidad is still available.
"I feel like he needs a break after two grueling fights with Pavlik," Nelson said. "I feel like with time off, he comes back fresh. We had a real hard training camp, a long one, and we needed to take some time off and do some fishing."
Taylor won't be completely removed from boxing, however.
On Saturday, Taylor (27-2-1, 17 knockouts) will be going to Tampa to watch Nelson's nephew, Jonathan Nelson, make his professional boxing debut. Jonathan Nelson will be facing Miami's Devin Laney (0-2) in a four-round fight at the St. Pete Times Forum on the undercard of the Antonio Tarver-Clinton Woods fight.
"I'm not nervous right now. I feel good about," said Jonathan Nelson, who was a national Golden Gloves semifinalist. "I'm ready to get in there. I think I'm ready for this, I feel good about it."
Ozell Nelson said that by the time September rolls around, Taylor will be ready for his own fight, and Trinidad is just the right opponent. Trinidad came off three years of retirement in January to face J-ones, who won a unanimous decision and knocked down Trinidad twice.
"We would love to fight Trinidad," Ozell Nelson said. "That would be the perfect fight for us after big fights with Pavlik."
DiBella said Wednesday that he is still trying to finalize a deal with Trinidad's promoter, Don King.
"If we can make the Trinidad fight, obviously that would be our first choice," DiBella said. "HBO wants Taylor-Trinidad. We talked to King, and I'm waiting to hear from him. I want to do the fight, but it's a matter of getting an offer."
King said he is trying to convince Trinidad (48-4-1, 32 KOs) and his father/manager, Felix Trinidad, to take the fight with Taylor to set up the possibility of Trinidad Jr. fighting the winner of April 19 fight between Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins.
"HBO has offered us the last week of September or the first one of October to have the fight with Taylor," King told El Nuevo Dia, Trinidad's hometown Puerto Rican newspaper. "And later we would be able to go against the winner of the fight between Joe Calzaghe and Hopkins.
Trinidad Sr. said he would rather wait to fight Hopkins. DiBella said a decision would likely be coming in the next two weeks.
"I believe that a fight with Hopkins is the most attractive one for us," Trinidad Sr. said to El Nuevo Dia. "We are going to continue speaking, share this information with Tito, and to see what happens."
If Taylor-Trinidad doesn't happen, DiBella said he is targeting former Contender contestant Brian Vera, who is coming off an impressive knockout of Andy Lee, one of Taylor's former sparring partners.
But Taylor-Trinidad is Team Taylor's first choice, which is why DiBella said he will let King decide exactly when and where the fight happens.
"It's such a perfect fight for us, you don't mess around and put a lot of conditions on it," Di-Bella said. "It is the right fight, and if we can make it, we'll make it. If not, we'll probably fight Brian Vera."
Jermain Fans:
Check out the life-size cut-outs of Jermain at the Little Rock National Airport!
Visitors are greeted with Jermain saying "Hi I'm Jermain Taylor, Pride of Arkansas. Welcome to my hometown of Little Rock. I love you Arkansas!"
As the official agency for Jermain Taylor, "Pride of Arkansas", Chenal Valley Travel is now offering travel packages that include air, hotel and tickets to all Jermain Taylor boxing matches.
For more information regarding Chenal Valley Travel's services and specials for the fight, please contact them at:
11300 Financial Centre Pkwy, Suite 600
Little Rock, AR 72211
Phone: (866) 466-9770
Local: (501) 224-1551
Fax: (501) 224-1071
Hours of Operation:
Monday-Friday
8:30am-5:30pm Central Time
|
Inside the ring, Jermain Taylor is known as "Bad Intentions", but outside the ring he has the very best intentions. See what Jermain is doing to help "Stamp Out Smoking" below. |
||
 Jermain Taylor desktop image for your PC! 1024 x 768 Desktop Wallpaper Click here to Download/View File. |
||
 Click to download/view National Press Release. |
:30 Television Spot - Quicktime (.mov) Format - 1.5MB Download/View File :30 Website Video Spot - Quicktime (.mov) Format - 2MB Download/View File |
 Click to download/view Arkansas Press Release. |
|
Download Instructions Hold your mouse over the words "Download/View File", then... PC Users: Right-click and "Save file as" Mac Users: Control-click and "Download link to disk" | ||
For more information on Jermain's fights, check out these sites:
www.dbe1.com
www.fightnews.com
www.espn.com/boxing