Weekend Preview: Emmanuel Taylor Gets His Shot Against Victor Cayo
Emmanuel Taylor photo from United Boxers
by Gautham Nagesh
It’s been a couple years since Fight Night 2011, but the effects of that booze-soaked evening have lingered like the stink of the pricey cigars they hand out at ringside. In retrospect, it was an evening full of bad decisions, from the judges at ringside, to my purchase of a Notre Dame helmet autographed by Joe Montana at the silent auction. The helmet still sits atop my bookshelf, mocking me, a Michigan fan, with its golden glow; I realize I am probably stuck with it for life.
Much of my recollection of that evening is now lost, thanks to the open bar, but my report for TQBR notes the specifics:
Cleveland’s Prenice Brewer handed Baltimore prospect Emmanuel “Tranzformer” Taylor his first professional loss in an eight-round split decision that I scored for Taylor.
Though I scored the fight for Taylor, it’s fair to say I wasn’t too impressed by either boxer:
By the end of the bout it was anyone’s guess who had won. Neither man showed much in the way of desire or confidence. Taylor is just 20 years old but he may have found his level. One could argue he deserved the win but unless he held back there’s not much to write home about.
One of the great joys of writing about boxing is being wrong about a fighter’s potential. Taylor has won both his fights since the setback, and is in position to make a big move at 140 lbs. if he can beat Victor Cayo on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights tomorrow evening. Lamont Peterson turned almost the exact same opportunity into a big-money fight against Amir Khan in 2011; Taylor is surely hoping a win would similarly launch him toward the bright lights of premium cable.[[MORE]]
At the time, I was unimpressed with Brewer, who had been stopped by Patrick Lopez in his previous fight. Brewer has lost his other two fights since beating Taylor, but proven himself a solid trial horse by going the distance in both. But it’s Taylor that has shown real quality, besting Raymond “Tito” Serrano and George Sosa, who were a combined 24-1 before facing him. The Serrano win came on ShoBox, providing Taylor with valuable exposure as he climbs the ladder.
Taylor has shown real potential and growth of late, which I look forward to seeing in person on TV. He has a solid knockout ratio and should be undefeated, by my count, which makes him a legitimate contender at junior welterweight, provided he gets by Cayo. Peterson walked through the Dominican, but Lamont is another class of fighter from Taylor. Cayo’s loss last March against the faded Nate Campbell, on the other hand, should give Taylor real hope.
Cayo has put together four straight knockouts, so it’s not out of the question that he could catch Taylor early and put him down. If not, we like Taylor to break Cayo down and put him out in the middle rounds. Since both fighters have decent pop, the pick is for this one to end early. Cayo would appear to have the edge over 12 full rounds thanks to his experience, but the young legs of Taylor might actually give him the advantage.
The co-feature matches heavyweights Magomed Abdusalamov of Russia and Victor Bisbal of Puerto Rico in a fight that’s certain not to last the scheduled ten rounds. Mago is becoming an ESPN favorite thanks to his perfect KO-ratio, while Bisbal has only lost once, by KO in 2006. Neither has fought much competition but we’ll pick Mago, who should be too much for the unproven Bisbal.
ShoBox has a show Friday night from Indio, Calif. headlined by unbeaten junior middleweight Hugo Centeno Jr. against KeAndrae Leatherwood. Centeno hails from boxing hotbed Oxnard, Calif. and stopped the rugged Allen Conyers in his last fight. He has already impressed the likes of Paulie Malignaggi and Peter Quillin while serving as their sparring partner. Centeno should be able to handle Leatherwood, whose only loss came by knockout against John Jackson.
The co-feature matches Braulio “Unstoppable” Santos (9-0, 8 KOs), of Carolina, P.R., and Kevin Hoskins (7-1, 5 KOs) of Los Angeles, in an eight-round junior lightweight bout. Hoskins’ only loss came by knockout last April; only one of Santos’ opponents has reached the final bell. You do the math. The Golden Boy show will also feature 2012 U.S. Olympian Dominic Breazeale in his fourth professional fight, and unbeaten Irish lightweight prospect Jamie Kavanagh, who has failed to impress us in previous outings.
The weekend’s main event will be the Saturday night HBO show from the Theater at Madison Square Garden, where the ageless Bernard Hopkins will meet Tavoris Cloud in a matchup of the top two contenders at light heavyweight. Full preview of that show here…..HBO Latino will televise a show from Costa Mesa, Calif. headlined by the rematch between Juan Carlos Salgado vs. Argenis Mendez at 130 lbs. Rising welterweight twins Javier and Oscar Molina are also on the card, as is Richmond super middleweight Immanuwel Aleem…Darren Barker and Lee Purdy appear in separate bouts atop a show in London….UniMas has the third chapter of the flyweight trilogy between Edgar Sosa and Ulises “Archie” Solis and Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. vs. Alexander Chilote Acosta at bantamweight on Saturday night.