... But in the ring ...

Meanwhile, on April 25, Jermain Taylor suffered his third loss and second knockout in his last four fights. Carl Froch, who according to the scorecards had to knock Taylor out in the last round to win, did just that, knocking him down in the middle of the 12th round and pummeling the Little Rock boxer against the ropes in the final 20 seconds. The referee ended the fight with 14 seconds left.

This marked yet another fight--the pattern has been evident since the two Bernard Hopkins fights--that Taylor was very strong out of the gate, then started slowing in the seventh round. He survived on the scorecards in beating Hopkins twice. After three surprisingly harder bouts--two where Taylor predicted knockouts but which were won by close decision and a draw with contender Winky Wright, Taylor stopped experiencing success.

Kelley Pavlik suddenly and viciously KO'd Taylor in the seventh round after Taylor had been in control of that match, and Taylor's championship belts went to Pavlik (who would later lose to Hopkins).

Taylor got his rematch with Pavlik and went the distance, but was worn out by the end and Pavlik won on the cards. Taylor, who hammered former sparring partner Jeff Lacy in his last outing, knocked the Brit Froch down in the third round and to some observers never looked better in his chance to take a title belt from Froch, but wore down and was target practice in the last round.

Coincidentally, Taylor's camp had sent out a press package of notes the week of the fight hailing Taylor's training for the fight and the assurance that, based on the work in practice, if he had to go 16 rounds he could.

But Carl Froch is no sparring partner.

Taylor has been a great champion. But he could take a lesson from another great middleweight champ, the man he beat twice: Hopkins. In sustaining a career that has gone into his early 40s, Hopkins has become the master of playing around in the early rounds to save up his best for late. Only against Taylor and then in his most recent loss, to the fabulous and retired Joe Calzaghe, did B-Hop's strategy fail him.

It was the Welshman Calzaghe's retirement that opened the door for Froch to claim his super middleweight belt, and give Taylor a chance to be a champ for the second time.

Now, having been pounded of late, Taylor and camp might be looking for the end. His promoter says another fight is likely in September. It's said the drama of this Froch-Taylor matchup would attract a major TV package down the road.

But Taylor is beginning to show his age and then some. We may never know how much the fights with Hopkins truly took out from Taylor, but they were supreme efforts by Taylor to win. Just how many of those efforts does one man hold inside, and can Taylor dig down to find another again? Lately, the answer has been no.