Jones has an interest in Taylor
Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008
Jermain Taylor’s loss to Kelly Pavlik on Saturday night apparently hasn’t hurt his ability to draw interest from one of the biggest names in boxing.
Talks are ongoing between Taylor’s camp and representatives of Roy Jones Jr. for a summer fight between the two former world champions.
Lou DiBella, Taylor’s promoter, confirmed that Jones ’ people have contacted him, and the sides are looking at a possible June fight but nothing is close to being confirmed.
DiBella and Ozell Nelson, Taylor’s trainer, strongly denied Internet reports that said Taylor had already agreed to the fight.
“No, that’s wrong,” Nelson said. “We’re not even thinking about that right now. We’re taking a break.”
DiBella is thinking about Taylor’s next fight because it is his job to do so. But he, too, said talks are just starting to progress, and Taylor has not agreed to anything.
“Roy’s people are talking to me,” DiBella said. “It’s too preliminary for me to really say anything.”
Jones, who has been world champion in four weight divisions, attended last Saturday’s Taylor-Pavlik rematch and sat ringside. Before that fight Jones said he definitely wanted to face the winner.
However, Pavlik already has a middleweight defense set up, likely against John Duddy, and Jones cannot go back down to middleweight. A Taylor-Jones bout would take place at a catchweight of 170 pounds.
The Taylor-Pavlik rematch was close, and Taylor fought well enough to be considered a solid attraction for Jones even coming off a loss.
“Look, Pavlik got the ‘W,’ but it’s not like we lost,” DiBella said. “I don’t think Jermain hurt himself.”
For the fight to happen, Jones (52-4, 38 KOs ) likely would have to command the majority of the purse. DiBella said for a name fighter like Jones, Taylor’s side would have no problems agreeing to that. DiBella also said he would not rule out the possibility of Don King, who promoted last month’s Jones-Tito Trinidad fight, buying out DiBella to put on the promotion.
“If we got a 60-40 fight [in favor of Jones ] on HBO pay-perview, we would be crazy not to pursue it,” DiBella said. “If Don King wanted to buy us out for $ 5 million, $ 6 million, we’re open to anything.
“ We’re discussing everything, and will do what’s best for Jermain. But it’s too early to be discussing any of this.”
A fight between Taylor and Jones was heavily discussed last summer. Jones wanted the fight, but Taylor opted for his mandatory title defense against Pavlik.
On Thursday, the Boxing Writers Association of America officially awarded the Harry Markson Award for the 2007 fight of the year to that bout, but after Taylor’s loss, Jones claimed in an interview with BoxingScene. com that he advised DiBella to turn down Pavlik.
“I saw it coming,” Jones said. “I was telling Lou DiBella. The bad part about it, Jermain Taylor and I had a date for September. HBO gave him a pay-perview [date ] to fight me. They agreed to this a long time before I fought Anthony Hanshaw [on July 14 ].
“ They said ‘Naw, we’re going to fight Kelly Pavlik first.’ I said ‘You are making a mistake, Lou. He [Taylor ] almost lost his last six fights.’”
Jones, a 39-year-old fighter from Pensacola, Fla., first won the middleweight world title with a 1993 unanimous decision over Bernard Hopkins. He added a supermiddleweight world title in 2004, a unanimous decision over James Toney.
Jones kept moving up, knocking out Montell Griffin to win the light heavyweight title in 1997. He held that title for seven years, until being knocked out by Antonio Tarver in 2004.
During that time Jones made the unprecedented move from middleweight to heavyweight when he beat John Ruiz to win the WBA heavyweight title in 2003.
The loss to Tarver started what appeared to be the end of a Hall of Fame career for Jones.
Jones followed the loss to Tarver with another knockout loss, this time to Glen Johnson. Tarver then beat him again for Jones’ third consecutive defeat in late 2005, and it appeared Jones was going to retire to broadcasting.
But Jones’ comeback has consisted of three unanimous decision victories, one each in 2006, 2007 and 2008. His latest victory was a dominating victory over Trinidad on Jan. 19.
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