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Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:00 pm EDT

Taylor gets a trip to the hospital: Does it mean Abraham is the favorite?

By Steve Cofield

On the surface, you can't make a better impression than Arthur Abraham did with his knockout win over Jermain Taylor to kickoff Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic Tournament. Abraham finished Taylor with that 12th KO with less than 20 seconds left in the fight. The Armenian's straight right was so effective that it knocked Taylor stiff. When Taylor hit the mat, his head bounced violently against the canvas. He was admitted to a Berlin hospital with a concussion.

In the tournament's format, Abraham picked up three points, but does it mean he should be a heavy favorite? I beg to differ on that one. Viewers of the Abraham-Taylor fight got cheated a bit by Showtime. Without Compubox stats and listening to the slanted call from Steve Albert, you would've thought Abraham was leading 11-0 entering the 12th round. Far from it. Abraham was virtually inactive in six rounds. Sure the scorecards had Abraham leading handily (105-103, 107-103, 106-102) entering the final round but it could've been a different story if the American wasn't dealing with a homefield advantage. Showtime did a good job in the prefight of warning the audience about Abraham's propensity to beg for low blow calls. His wish was granted early in the fight when referee Guido Cavalleri called a couple on Taylor. It took a lot of the steam out of Taylor's efforts to lower Abraham's hands by going to the body. Without a ringside judge of its own on the scene, Showtime didn't have an objective voice on what the score really was entering the final round. There's no way with the Abraham's low punch output in half of the rounds, that he was leading that fight 9-3 as one judge had it. 

Even with a low punch output, Abraham also looked a bit winded in rounds 9-through-11. Abraham did a get a big win but he'll have to step things up to win the Super Six. If he fights in front of judges who favor volume over power, he may have trouble beating a guy like Andre Dirrell. Abraham faces Dirrell in Round two and said he's ready to take America. Be careful what you wish for. The next time around, on a level playing field, the story may be different.  

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  1. SouthCal21
    1. Posted by SouthCal21 Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:16 pm EDT

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    Thank you PBF for your 1 million ppv buys. They obviously made Cofields boss yell at him for not doing more boxing blogs. Stevie boy actually has to work for his paycheck instead of typing about irrelevant MMA/UFC bullsiht.
    .
    .
    On another note, that KO was brutal. Abraham still isnt the fav in my eyes. He beat a washed up has been in Taylor who shouldnt even be in this tourney. He will prob get replaced by Green after his week long hospital stay, And that Dirrell Froch fight was boring and I had Dirrelly winning on rounds by 1 even taking the point away.
  2. SouthCal21
    2. Posted by SouthCal21 Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:16 pm EDT

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    *Dirrell
  3. Alvin Robertson
    3. Posted by Alvin Robertson Sun Oct 18, 2009 3:10 pm EDT

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    Hopefully Abraham does the world a favor and decapitates Dirrel, but in all seriousness that will be Abraham's toughest styles match of the first 3 matches.
    Froch vs Kessler and vs Abraham will be WARS!, but Froch will get KOed by both.
  4. Enrique M
    4. Posted by Enrique M Sun Oct 18, 2009 5:26 pm EDT

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    "Decapitate" is rather too strong a word to use in knocking the senses out of Dirrell. Such term is non-existent in boxing, maybe true in Al Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf, and Osama Bin Laden's territories.
  5. banana_split_orig
    5. Posted by banana_split_orig Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:26 pm EDT

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    I gave Taylor a slight edge against Abraham because of battle experience. Hoping he learned his lesson upon his losses. Not again. What a fluke. Thats what you get being hype as "bad intentions" and could not live up its name. His wins over B.Hop was a fluke, the draw over Wright. Then he got KOd by the ghost, then lost on a rematch, KO again by a nobody champ Foch. Now Abraham who move up in weight. For the last 7 matches, his skill level as well his style is just the same. His a bum. Either he does not want to learn or gain knowledge from his fights or his just a nursery dropout. Just could not understand. Feel sorry for Taylor.
  6. K NEL
    6. Posted by K NEL Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:13 am EDT

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    As a Taylor fan..this hurt. This was a fight he could've won...he started off good..then that damn stamina started kicking in. Sucks to be a Taylor fan right now. Starting to get fed up with this Jermaine needs a real cornerman and he'll be fine. Steward wasn't getting him KO'd left and right. Cunningham brought the bad intentions out in Taylor.
    B-Hop wins weren't fluke and Taylor won the rematch pretty decidely to me. Winky would've won if he hadn't took his foot off the gas. First Pavlik fight should've been stopped in the second. Clearly lost the decision in the rematch though. Now b/c of his bad stamina he's been KO'd by Froch ( who was getting his a$$ kicked) and now King Arthur.
    Speaking of Froch..Dirrell got robbed in that fight. Both sides had something to complain about but..Froch got outboxed. I don't see how Dirrell didn't win that on cards. I'm gonna keep a little hope alive for Taylor..Hopefully he can beat Ward...hopefully....
  7. DANNYB
    7. Posted by DANNYB Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:42 am EDT

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    i like taylor hated to c him lose like that!! but dirrell did get robbed he had all the head moving shots he had froch's head flopping around and could have knock him out he had froch hurt pretty good at one point!! arthur was not impressive to me he was running on fumes after 8 rds he was breathing hard and he wasn't even throwing that many punches threw the whole fight he was stretched out in the corner before the 12 rd!!! well K NEL we finally agree on sum things!!
  8. .
    8. Posted by . Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:53 am EDT

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    They way he's not giving Abraham credit & making excuses for Taylor, it sounds like Coefield lost money on the fight. hahaha.
    Curious to see the blog after the Dirrell-Abraham fight when Coefield loses his "double or nothing" bet. lol.
  9. .
    9. Posted by . Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:00 am EDT

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    Danny B sounds like Coefield.
    And what exactly was the great Jermaine "Bad Intentions" Taylor doing when Arthur was "running on fumes"??? NOTHING. Stop making excuses, the better fighter won.
  10. julyfirehorse!
    10. Posted by julyfirehorse! Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:52 am EDT

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    Cofield is a sore loser...and it is obvious that he is showing too much emotion for Taylor's loss... Why is Cofield being so biased..??...Perhaps Cofield did lose that sizable bet...and if he did...I hope it was alot...
    It seems that most people are saying...Sucks to be Taylor...But I'll say....
    Sucks to be Cofield...!!!..
  11. K NEL
    11. Posted by K NEL Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:25 pm EDT

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    DannyB - you're right lol we agree on something. Both of those fights were highway robbery on the cards though. Dirrell was out boxing Froch bad. Don't see how Froch won a decision. Froch is very very questionable. Taylor should've finished him (damn stamina). I think Froch is primed to get KO'd by Ward, Kessler, and Abraham. I just don't see how Abraham could've been that far ahead on the cards with barely any punch output...but..that was a helluva KO. HOpe Jermaine recovers well enough to continue to fight and take care of business next year against Ward.
  12. DANNYB
    12. Posted by DANNYB Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:52 pm EDT

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    King arthur will loose to dirrell with his counter punching style and fast hands arthur is n trouble he throws to many wide punches it workd with taylor cause he cant counter punch but dirrell will expose the king!!!
  13. K NEL
    13. Posted by K NEL Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:23 pm EDT

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    Iono if he'd get beat by Dirrell Danny B but I think Ward or Kessler will have a better chance in beating him.
  14. .
    14. Posted by . Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:07 pm EDT

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    Doubt it. Abraham is a better fighter than Froch.
  15. banana_split_orig
    15. Posted by banana_split_orig Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:22 pm EDT

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    I just can't believe Abraham was leading in all score cards. Thats judges manipulations. But anyway the KO covered it up. I do believe now, Taylor may have bad intensions for others but he could not take punches. He should retire after the tourney. His level of skill and gameplan has not elevated.
    Dirrel was robbed too. Dirrel will be a good match for Abraham. That is why, if your fighting on someone else backyard. Don't rely on points or the judges. Finish the guy, dropped him to the floor. That way they can't manipulate the score cards.
  16. Al
    16. Posted by Al Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:52 pm EDT

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    Abraham is a tough guy but Direll is going to make it look easy against him, its a very bad matchup for Abraham style wise. Froch did a lot better against Dirrell than Abraham will. I also think Ward is going to give Kessler a beatdown when they fight and will knock Kessler out.
  17. .
    17. Posted by . Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:32 pm EDT

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    More people who lost bets, lol. Make it look easy against Abraham? lmfao........good one.
    How's it a bad match up for Abraham? I'd love to hear this. Abraham is a lot more skilled than Froch with maybe even more power & is a great counter puncher. On top of that Dirrell had a close & tough fight against a guy who Taylor dominated until the final round.
  18. Al
    18. Posted by Al Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:57 pm EDT

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    Speed kills my friend and Dirrell has got some serious speed, and even Taylor actually racked up a lot of points against Abraham and he has nowhere near the speed of Dirrell. Abraham is a great fighter but dont forget he is also the smallest and probably the slowest of all the fighters in this tournament.
  19. Jimmy
    19. Posted by Jimmy Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:57 pm EDT

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    After seeing the untalented Froch and 11 rounds of A.Abraham, it seems very clear that M.Kessler is the favorite.
    I can't wait to see Kessler knock out Froch.
  20. jwatters92
    20. Posted by jwatters92 Mon Oct 19, 2009 8:08 pm EDT

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    check out this boxing video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtn2sD5UwUU
  21. ANTHONY B
    21. Posted by ANTHONY B Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:08 pm EDT

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    I didn't think Taylor's wins over BHop were fluke. The first fight was close, although I had BH winning all the late rounds, he started way to late. In the rematch, BHop looked drained, and Taylor won easily. Against Winky, Wright stupidly gave away the last round, and then had a hissy-fit when he realized that cost him the fight. I not surprised Abraham KO'd Taylor (didn't see the fight) because Taylor seems to have trouble fending off big punchers in the later rounds. Hopkins and Wright are lighter hitting boxers, a better style for Taylor.
  22. banana_split_orig
    22. Posted by banana_split_orig Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:13 pm EDT

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    I thought Dirrell is gonna KO Froch. But somehow he lost steem too. Dirrell is a fast bloke, except his inexperience to recognized a kill betrayed him. It is funny to see European boxers. They are not flashy, stylish of any that sort. They look like 1950s boxers. Scientificaly a geek. But if you don't knock them out. They'll keep on boxing upto the 15th round.
    .......
    Someone said Ward is gonna KO Kessler? When would that be. I may have gave Taylor a slight edge against Abraham... But Kessler? No..no....no... I give Kessler to win all the way.. Defeating all 5 opponents. No one have seen much of Kessler fight except Calzaghe and the last months fight. But any boxer, can see Kesslers advantages.
    .......
    Common sense... W/c one would you prefer spent?
    (1) Energy in moving/dancing around, head movement.
    (2) Energy in you punches.
    .......
    If your not condintioned to fight 12-15 rounds, rather not take number 1.
  23. Donald_Cerise
    23. Posted by Donald_Cerise Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:30 pm EDT

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    The real question is why Lucian Bute was left out of this tourney. He had more quality wins than Direll and Froch and he's not washed up like Taylor.
  24. Mangler
    24. Posted by Mangler Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:36 am EDT

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    Donald C Your right about Bute, even Pascal should be in this Tourney but they are not Americans. If you added those 2 you would have a great 8 man tourney, 3 fights each and the top 4 go on. Politics, promoters, etc are probably in the way so lets enjoy this, it's better than 6 different champs not fighting each other. I see a Abraham/Kessler final. Mangler Out
  25. K NEL
    25. Posted by K NEL Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:11 am EDT

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    Mangler and Donald C - Bute isn't in the tourney b/c he has a rematch scheduled with Andrade. Pascal isn't even fighting at super middleweight anymore now that he's the WBC Light Heavyweight champion.
    Ward is not going to KO Kessler. I can almost guarantee that. Dirrell isn't a bad match up for Abraham but it is a interesting fight. I think BANANA said it right earlier..you can't go overseas looking to win on the cards. You've got to go out there and put on a dominating show or a KO. Otherwise you're destined to lose just as we saw the robbery in front of everybody that was Holyfield - Valuev. Kessler - Ward is going to be real good. I think if Jermaine gets a real cornerman then he can go back to being Bad Intentions.

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