Taylor back to basics

Taylor and Pavlik: Fireworks

No excuses, Kelly beat me fair and square last time, but I know what I have to do this time around

Taylor on Pavlik
Quotes of the week

Jermain Taylor is hopeful his renewed relationship with boyhood coach Ozell Nelson will yield revenge on Kelly Pavlik when the two meet in Las Vegas next month.

Taylor lost his WBC and WBO middleweight belts to Pavlik in a brutal seven-round slugfest in Atlantic City back in September.

The Little Rock resident was ahead on all three cards at the time of his knockout, though, and he wasted little time in exercising a rematch clause in his contract.

Taylor has since ditched legendary trainer Emanuel Steward and rejoined Nelson, who was his first coach.

And ahead of the catchweight contest, he said: "Ozell put me through a mini-training camp prior to coming to Las Vegas and we have gone back to the basics working on better conditioning and technique.

"Nothing against Emanuel, he's a Hall of Fame trainer and a friend of mine, but what was clicking in training, wasn't clicking in the ring come fight time. Sometimes chemistry works that way."

With the fight taking place at 166lbs, Taylor cannot reclaim his titles on February 16, but the chance to regain face following last year's defeat is motivation enough.

He said: "No excuses, Kelly beat me fair and square last time, but I know what I have to do this time around, and I promise you things will be different.

"Any fighter will tell you that they can't look past their upcoming opponent, this case is no different.

"I will definitely campaign as a super-middleweight from here on, but I can't even think about that until I get Pavlik out of the way. I'm expecting a lot of fireworks in the rematch, just like the first fight between us."