WELCOME TO DAY OF A NEW YAWN.

Byline: ROBERT MORALES

Boxing

Let's see now. Two weeks after HBO charged $54.95 for what turned out to be aboring fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the network is going to saddle us with a real snoozer tonight.

That would be Jermain Taylor defending his two middleweight championship belts against Cory Spinks at FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn.

De La Hoya-Mayweather was anything but a thriller because, though De La Hoya wanted to slug it out, Mayweather smartly did not. Now we have a normally hard-hitting middleweight in Taylor taking on the dreaded Spinks, whose 11 knockouts in 39fights is about as bad a knockout ratio as we'll ever see from a world champion.

Mind you, up until two years ago, Spinks fought at welterweight, a division in which he gathered all of his knockouts while boxing his way to a world title before moving up to junior middleweight last year. Spinks won two fights there and another world championship.

This young man can't crack an egg, but he can stick and move. And since he's a southpaw, that makes him a somewhat difficult nut to crack. But the bottom line is, we are in for 12 sleep-inducing rounds. There is no way Spinks is going to mix it up with Taylor.

Making this matchup more infuriating is that Taylor will be fighting his second blown-up junior middleweight in succession. Last December, former junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma moved up and gave Taylor some trouble, going all 12 rounds before losing a decision.

Basically, people expect the man considered to be the top middleweight champion in the world, to have stiffer competition.

Or, if he does take on a smaller fighter like Ouma, he should dominate. Although two of the scores on that fight were wide, they were not indicative of just how uninspring Taylor's performance was.

Lou DiBella, Taylor's promoter, is tired of hearing all the criticism about his protege, and there has been plenty. He points out that Taylor fought and defeated Bernard Hopkins twice in a row and then took on Winky Wright, with whom he earned a draw that was more like a gift. Heck, Taylor's first win over Hopkins was more than a gift; it was a large present.

Give credit to Taylor for being good enough to even be in those fights. But fighting Ouma and Spinks back to back? That's tough to take. Fortunately, tonight's yawner won't be on pay-per-view, but regular HBO.

"He is the undisputed and indisputable middleweight champion of the world," DiBella said of Taylor, who, in reality, owns two of the four belts. "He is a guy that's got a lot of haters in this business. But when you are at the top of the mountain and you are as good and decent a man as this guys is, you are going to have haters.

"That's just the way it is."

Taylor being a great guy -- and he is that -- has nothing to do with this. It has everything to do with promoters, as well as HBO, trying to pass off this fight as something that is going to be spectacular.

During a recent conference call, Don King was in rare form. He promotes Spinks.

"Well, first let me say to all the media, we are very happy that you are here on this phone call with us for this legendary fight that's going to take place on May19 in Memphis," he said.

Seconds later, King was giving kudos to Taylor for taking on a killer like Spinks.

"I really commend Jermain Taylor," King said, "because Jermain Taylor is just simply something kind of different because (he) takes this kind of a risk. This is what champions are made of and this is what makes champions and (what) champions are."

Yeah, sure, whatever.

A much better fan matcnup would have been Taylor against either Edison Miranda or Kelly Pavlik. They will square off in a World Boxing Council middleweight title elimination fight in the undercard tonight. Both have called out Taylor. But Taylor, the WBC champion, would have stood a good chance of being stopped by either, and DiBella knows it.

And DiBella is going to milk Taylor's reign as champion as long as he can.

As for Taylor, he couldn't care less that the experts are saying he is about to have his second consecutive fight against a smaller man who is bound to make for a dull fight.

"It doesn't bother me," Taylor said. "Not one bit."

Taylor, 28, is 26-0-1 with 17 knockouts. Spinks, 29, is 36-3.

Pavlik-Miranda highlights undercard

There is one good thing about tonight's Jermain Taylor-Cory Spinks middleweight title fight at FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn.: Kelly Pavlik and Edison Miranda will fight in the main undercard bout.

This is the fight that will help HBO save face for what is sure to be a slow fight between Spinks and Taylor. Knowing that the winner of Pavlik- Miranda is supposed to get Taylor if he beats Spinks makes the situation bearable.

Bob Arum promotes Pavlik. He tried to get Pavlik in tonight's fight against Taylor, but Taylor and his promoter, Lou DiBella, went in another direction.

"I'm not casting blame, but I'll just say that HBO had a contract with Taylor and Taylor, for the money he was getting, wanted the easiest possible fight and that is fighting a junior middleweight (meaning Spinks) who can't punch," Arum said.

"Therefore, there is no danger. If he fights Kelly Pavlik, Kelly can punch and there is danger."

Arum, however, didn't want to go on a complain-fest. He noted that, hey, Taylor-Spinks might not be a thriller, but Pavlik-Miranda is bound to be.

"Instead, we are getting a terrific fight with (Pavlik) and Miranda," Arum said. "If he beats Miranda, then that clears a path toward the champion and that (Pavlik-Taylor) certainly becomes a bigger fight than if we had gone right in with Taylor."

Pavlik's fight tonight with Miranda could really be something.

Pavlik is 30-0 with 27 knockouts. He is a tough, tough fighter who hits very hard. Miranda is 28-1 with 24 knockouts. He, too, can crack with the best.

Pavlik is ranked No. 1 by the World Boxing Council. Miranda is No. 2. Since their fight is a WBC middleweight title elimination fight, WBC champion Taylor would be required to make his next defense against the winner.

"Absolutely, this is a rough fight," Arum said. "We are confident in Kelly and the way he is going to show."

Arum expects plenty of toe-to-toe action between arguably the middleweight division's two hardest hitters.

"They don't know how to fight any other way," Arum said, "either guy."

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) Jermain Taylor, center, speaks to reporters outside the FedEx Forum on Friday after his weigh-in for his match with Cory Spinks.

Greg Campbell/Associated Press

(2) MIRANDA

Box:

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