BRING IT ON!

by Nat Gottlieb

After doing a trio of fistic tangos with Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright, Jermain Taylor finds himself in the mosh pit Saturday night with Kassim Ouma, boxing's version of a heavy metal, hip hop and rave sensation. Taylor can't wait to dance.

Ouma, one of the highest-volume punchers in the sports history, is guaranteed to supercharge the tempo at the Alltel Arena in Little Rock, and finally give Taylor a chance to showcase a power-packed offense kept under straitjacket by the suffocating defenses of Hopkins and Wright.

"He really doesn't have any choice but to be explosive," said Emanuel Steward, Taylor's Hall of Fame trainer. "Ouma will be constantly crowding him, so Jermain has to explode."

No more high gloves, tricky angles and shoulder rolls for Taylor. Ouma comes straight at you firing punches from a machine gun.

"I watched Ouma beat Sechew Powell, an excellent fighter who I have sparred with, and let me tell you, the man comes to fight," Taylor said of Ouma, who handed Powell his first pro loss on Aug. 5. "He's not the type of fighter who worries about technique. He throws punches and comes to win."

Taylor is used to that kind of aggressiveness from training in Steward's legendary Kronk gym, where no sparring partners are hired and everybody you get in the ring with is top flight boxer looking to take you out in front of peers.

"When he is sparring, he just wants to mix it up all the time, he really enjoys that," said Lou DiBella, Taylor's promoter. "He wants to go toe-to-toe, which is what makes the Ouma fight so good for him. One of the reasons I made the Ouma fight is that he is going to stand there and fight him."

As for Ouma's defense, DiBella put it in NFL terms. "Ouma's defense is his offense. He does not get cute. He is not a runner," the promoter said.

To put a little perspective on the upbeat change in tempo Taylor is going to face, consider this: In the two fights with Hopkins and the one with Wright, the two boxers threw a combined total of 1,340 punches at Taylor. Ouma can do that in a single fight - and under 12 rounds.

Ouma has thrown as much as 1,357 punches in little over 10 rounds, 1,331 another time, and typically averages about 100 punches thrown a round. Taylor, after throwing just 453 punches at Hopkins in his first fight and only 391 in the second, pumped up the volume against Wright with 703. "Ouma is like a machine," Steward said, "he just keeps going and going and going. The main thing for Jermain is he has to avoid moving to the ropes."

Whether Ouma can keep up his punch count if he gets hammered by Taylor's heavy hands will probably tell the story of the fight.

"Jermain has tremendous one-punch power," DiBella said. "If he doesn't knock you out, and you go the distance with him, you will really feel it later. Ask Bernard. In the second fight, Bernard was very safety oriented. Anybody who saw Winky Wright the next day will tell you he looked like he had been through World War II."

While Taylor has a distinct size advantage -- being in Steward's words, "one of the biggest middleweights in modern times--" there is a clear danger that Ouma can win this fight through the sheer volume of punches he throws.

"Ouma doesn't have knockout power, but if Jermain doesn't knock him out and it goes the distance, the guy who lands the most punches will win, and Ouma could be the new middleweight champion," Steward said.

Read between the lines and it seems clear Taylor is committed to knocking out Ouma, something Steward thinks will help boost his image with fans.

"What Jermain has to do is show is how he can be an explosive fighter. He hasn't done that with a quality opponent yet," Steward said.

The fact that this fight will be in his hometown, where he has fought five times before but never as champion, will likely rev Taylor up even more.

"I think the home crowd will really energize him," DiBella said. "He is a huge celebrity in the state of Arkansas. He is their pro sports franchise, and he is personally loved. The two most popular people in Arkansas are Bill Clinton and Jermain Taylor, and not necessarily in that order."

While saying he grew by leaps and bounds in his trilogy with the two tech masters, Taylor at the same time is glad for the change of pace.

"Bernard and Winky are very different kind of fighters than Ouma," Taylor said. "I will feel good knowing I will be a lot more offense-minded because of Ouma's style. Remember, styles make fights."

Taylor insists he was not frustrated by having to fight more cautiously against two boxers expert in exploiting mistakes.

"To be a complete fighter, you have to be able to make adjustments during a fight and rely on other skills to win," Taylor said. "You have to learn to keep a cool head at all times and not allow yourself to become frustrated."

Though both Taylor and DiBella are confident he can beat Ouma, they are not taking him lightly.

"This is not an easy fight," DiBella said. "Anytime a boxer throws as many punches in a round as Ouma, there's danger. I would like to see Jermain fight this is the middle of the ring, where he can take advantage of his jab."

Obviously if the smaller Ouma, who is giving up five inches in height, cannot get by Taylor's jackhammer jab, he will be thrown off his game plan. That's one thing Steward has been working on. "Emanuel wants me to use that jab a lot more in my offensive attack. I think I probably have the best jab in boxing. Everything needs to work off the jab."

Taylor said recently he wants to retire at 30, which came as surprising news to everyone but DiBella.

"I've been with Jermain since the Olympics. It was never the plan to go much beyond 30," DiBella said. "He told me recently he would like to be out by his 32d birthday. He will fight at 31 and that is it. He has been an Olympian, been on HBO, won a world title, fought the best at his weight class and is a multi-millionaire. There is no reason to go beyond 31."

With that kind of career strategy in mind, DiBella is picking Taylor's fights with history in mind. "We are not looking for ‘gimme' fights. Every fight has to have a purpose. We are trying to cement his legacy," DiBella said.

Part of those plans include a fight over the summer with super middleweight champ, the unbeaten Joe Calzaghe.

"I have had talks with Frank Warren (Calzaghe's promoter) and in principle we are on the same page in terms of making the fight in 2007. Calzaghe has very fast hands and tremendous boxing skills. The fact that Jermain wants to fight him tells you what kind of kid he is," DiBella said.

DiBella said that despite reports, this will not be Taylor's last fight at middleweight. "Jermain will have one more defense at middleweight, then hopefully take on Calzaghe. At the rate he is going, he could have Hall of Fame credentials by the time he is 29," DiBella said.

Steward agrees. "Jermain has so much talent that he has not developed yet," said Steward, working just his second fight with Taylor. "So far he has gotten by on jab, jab right. He has the potential to be awesome."

Against Ouma, Taylor might have to be.