Taylor Edges Hopkins Again

Once again, the fight was more tactical than thrilling. Once again, the decision was left in the hands of the judges. And once again, the judges felt that Jermain Taylor did just enough to defeat Bernard Hopkins. Taylor retained the unified middleweight title with identical scores of 115-113 from each judge. In their first meeting, Taylor won most of the early rounds before fading as Hopkins came on strong in the final four rounds. This time the fight was more evenly fought throughout -- though Taylor was still better over the first half and Hopkins more successful over the final six frames. Despite all the trash talk leading up to the fight, it was in no way a classic and there will be no call for a third meeting. Taylor could now look to either Winky Wright or Jeff Lacy as big-fight opponents. Hopkins, who hinted that he'll probaly fight at least one more time, may try to go out with a bang against either Roy Jones Jr. or Antonio Tarver.