| By
Paul Upham:
Shannan Taylor, back where he belongs
By Paul Upham:
After two fights at super middleweight, including winning the
Australian title in April, former welterweight world title contender
Shannan ‘Blaster’ Taylor has decided to move back
down to junior middleweight and has a new trainer in Frankie John
Gatt working with him.
“I’ve
known Frankie for years,” said Taylor. “I knew him
before he started working with Jeff Fenech. I used to hang out
with Frankie. We have some mutual friends. I’ve always been
a good friend of Frankie’s.”
The two are
now training at the Bulli PCYC. The change coming about after
Taylor’s former trainer Bill Corbett decided to move on.
“Billy
told me that he had just had enough and there wasn’t enough
fun or money in boxing for him so he pulled out,” Taylor
explained.
Gatt, who
is an assistant trainer at Team Fenech, is renown for the disciplined
manner in which he works his fighters in the gym.
“Shannan
is doing everything I ask. I had a good talk to him early on,”
said Gatt. “I told him I want discipline and dedication
and above all I want respect more than anything. He is training
the house down now and I think he will be a better fighter. The
only way I am going to prove that is when he fights, but I think
you are going to see a sharper Shannan Taylor.”
“We
are going to be our own little team, but Jeff Fenech is going
to help us with making fights to work our way through the ratings
and with sparring at Team Fenech,” said Taylor. “Jeff
was right behind Frankie Gatt becoming my new trainer. Jeff has
the confidence that Frankie can take me back to where I once was.
He was pushing for him to be my new trainer.”
After overcoming
his devastating world title loss to Sugar Shane Mosley in March
2001, a well publicised drug problem and disappointing losses
to Julian Holland and Richard Williams, Taylor now believes he
has finally found what he needs to get back on top and do something
with his career at the age of 31.
“Frankie
is very passionate about boxing,” said Taylor. “Billy
Corbett hadn’t been bringing anything to the gym and working
in the gym now is unreal. Frankie is bringing in fresh things
and there is so much energy. I’m on my way back to junior
middleweight and I am training hard and on a diet. I have a strength
trainer and I am losing the right amount of weight. I’ve
been back at it for the last twelve months, but something had
been lacking in the gym.
“People
are going to see the best Shannan Taylor now, 100%. I am having
the best training and the best sparring. I am set up properly
now and with Frankie training me there is the right amount of
enthusiasm in the gym.”
“Nobody
can beat me at junior middleweight when my head is switched on,”
he added.
Which may
well be the most important statement from Taylor. If he wants
to have any success on the world scene, it must be at 154lbs.
Something that Gatt totally agrees with.
“I have
watched his last two fight at super middleweight and it is not
his weight. He is not a welterweight, a middleweight or a super
middleweight. At junior middleweight you are going to see a different
fighter. You are going to see a sharper, controlled fighter who
knows how to put someone away,” said Gatt.
“I want
him to fight at junior middleweight. He has only been with me
for two weeks but he has already dropped four or five kilos. You
can see the difference in everything he is doing, he is just improving
out of sight and he knows it. I told him when the time comes he
is going to prove himself.”
Jeff Fenech
has offered a Danny Green fight for Taylor at the end of the year.
While it would no doubt be a big money clash on the Australian
scene, whether it is in Taylor’s best interests to take
the fight is another matter.
“Shannan
will fight anyone,” said Taylor’s partner in Blaster
Promotions and adviser
Tony Caradonna.
“Shannan will take the fight, but not until the end of the
year.”
“I don’t
want Shannan fighting outside of junior middleweight, but Jeff
is offering the fight,” admitted Gatt.
The problem
is that a fighter like Taylor 32-3-2 (21), will always believe
that he can beat anyone, including Danny Green. But the problem
is that even though it would be an interesting match-up, it probably
is not in his best interests to do so.
The dilemma
is, if the fight is offered to Taylor and the money is right,
he will take it. The people advising Taylor need to consider whether
it is in his best interests for his overall career and guide him
accordingly. But his recent fights with Marc Bargero clearly showed
that 168lbs is not the domain of Shannan Taylor no matter what
he believes in his heart.
“Shannan
will fight anyone which I admire, but I want him at junior middleweight,”
said Gatt. “We want to win over the Australian public through
the performances we are going to produce in the near future at
junior middleweight.”
Maybe Danny
Green will secure a shot at WBC super middleweight champion Marcus
Beyer soon and win the title. Then any talk of a fight with Taylor
will be laid to rest.
In the meantime
the “Blaster” is likely to return to the ring on the
Fenech Fight Night card on August 8 at Panthers Leagues Club against
an opponent to be confirmed, before facing either Marcelo Alejandro
Rodriguez or Marcelo Washington Vera both from Argentina on September
19.
The Shannan
Taylor that returns to the ring at his best weight will hopefully
be a throwback to the glory days of the “Blaster”
when he really was a sensational knockout artist.
“I want
him to pick his punches and be more explosive. He is going to
start stopping people in every fight. I don’t want him winning
on points. I believe that whoever he fights is going to be in
a lot of trouble,” said Gatt.
“The
work that I have been giving him is very intense. I am willing
to travel to Melbourne and Brisbane to get the right sparring
partners to fulfil his dream and my dream. The only way we are
going to do that is through hard yards, but right now
Shannan Taylor
is breathing fire.”
Paul Upham
FULL
STORY by PAUL
UPHAM & PIC AT SECONDS OUT
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