Taylor thinks elusive Spinks poses challenge

Jermain Taylor is much bigger and much stronger than Cory Spinks.

But the slippery Spinks, son of former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, is not exactly the simplest matchup Taylor could have sought for his May 19 middleweight title defense in Memphis, Tenn.

Spinks (36-3, 11 knockouts) holds a super welterweight title but is primarily a welterweight, and not a hard-hitting one, either. But he's as elusive as any fighter and could make it a long evening for Taylor.

"I know what everybody is thinking," said Taylor (26-0-1, 17 knockouts). "But Cory Spinks knows how to box. He's not going to stand there and let me hit him on the chin."

Taylor was supposed to have fought Sergio Mora, winner of the first season of "The Contender" reality television series. But Mora balked at fighting in Memphis, just across the Mississippi River from Taylor's home state of Arkansas, where he has passionate fans.

That prompted angry Taylor fans to hang the moniker "The Latin Fake" on Mora, whose actual nickname is "The Latin Snake."

Mora clearly lost Taylor's respect by pulling out of the bout after all terms had been agreed to.

"It showed me he's not championship material," Taylor said. "Champions accept the adversity and come out on top anyway. I was disappointed that the fight didn't come off, but it won't have any impact on how I fight this guy."

Taylor knows Spinks wouldn't stand and slug with someone his own size and strength, let alone someone who has significant advantages in both areas. The key, Taylor said, is not getting caught up in trying to score a knockout.

Taylor had that problem in his win over Kassim Ouma in December. He was blistering Ouma with hard shots but was trying so hard to win by knockout that he never got the decisive blow.

"I went in there specifically thinking, 'I have to knock this guy out,' and that's a real tough thing to do," Taylor said. "I just need to relax and let it come to me and I'll be fine. That's what I've worked on.

"Last time, I was rushing myself and thinking I had to get rid of the guy. I'm not looking to knock (Spinks) out. I'm going to go in and do my job, which is to win. If the knockout comes, it comes, but I'm out there to win."

• CHANGE OF PLANS -- Taylor, 28, talked before the Ouma fight of retiring when he hit 30, but he said he has no plans to do so now and plans to continue to fight.

He said he's interested in fighting super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe.

"I'm a fighter and I'm a competitor and this is what I want to do," Taylor said. "I love to compete. I can't give that up, no sir."

• TOUCHE -- Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer took several thinly veiled shots at Top Rank and its chairman, Bob Arum, during a conference call last week to promote Saturday's blockbuster super welterweight title fight between De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand Garden.

Top Rank promoted 35 of Mayweather's 37 fights and 39 of De La Hoya's 42 fights. But De La Hoya said he thought his best pay-per-view performances -- in bouts against Felix Trinidad, Pernell Whitaker and Julio Cesar Chavez -- would have been much bigger had Golden Boy promoted them instead of Top Rank.

Schaefer called a June 2004 doubleheader featuring De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins one of the most poorly promoted fights in history.

"Both guys on the same night and it did a little over 300,000 homes," Schaefer said. "I mean, that is in my opinion one of the worst-promoted events in the history of boxing, to do that kind of homes. So it really has to do with the excitement the promoter brings to the table: The kind of exposure he brings to the fight, the kind of sponsors you attract. It really is not just putting a logo on the ring mat and see you later."

Arum was traveling out of the country and couldn't be reached for comment. But Top Rank president Todd duBoef pointed out the De La Hoya-Hopkins doubleheader faced several problems.

Hopkins threatened to pull out 48 hours before the fight because he was unhappy with the selection of Joe Cortez as referee.

De La Hoya reported in horrid shape for his fight with Felix Sturm that night, duBoef said, because he was busy promoting his short-lived reality series on Fox.

"We couldn't get him to do a thing on the fight because everything was 'Fox, Fox, Fox,' " duBoef said. "And then the other guy is telling the world there is no fight. Of course it was going to be difficult. I thought Bob did a masterful job building it back up to make (a De La Hoya-Hopkins fight in September 2004) a huge event."

• CONTENDER UP -- Another former "Contender" fighter will get a shot at the big time when Alfonso Gomez meets Arturo Gatti on July 14 in what could be Gatti's final fight.

One of the most exciting fighters of recent times, Gatti has hired former rival Micky Ward as his trainer for the fight.

Gomez grew up as a Gatti fan and said it is an honor to fight him.

The bout will be part of an HBO tripleheader of welterweight matches. It will include the IBF championship between Kermit Cintron and Walter Matthysse and the WBO title bout between Antonio Margarito and Paul Williams.

The Margarito-Williams bout will be somewhere in California, giving HBO a rare split-site telecast.

• TIDBITS -- Barring a change of heart, the De La Hoya-Mayweather bout will be Larry Merchant's last with HBO as its expert analyst. HBO plans to promote Max Kellerman to replace Merchant beginning with the Taylor-Spinks fight. ... Las Vegan Chris Byrd will serve as an expert analyst on Friday's Showtime telecast from the Palms featuring a heavyweight fight between Eddie Chambers and Dominick Guinn. ... Las Vegan Wayne McCullough, a former bantamweight champion who is becoming a well-respected trainer, has signed to train promising super welterweight Francisco Santana of Las Vegas. Santana, (5-0, three knockouts) will fight an opponent to be named on Friday at the Palms.