Anybody remember Bernard Taylor?

[Cobra33]

Great ametuer career.Turned pro and fought Pedrosa to a draw.Stopped in 8 by Mgugian.Super slick boxer but had durability issues.A shame because was a first class boxer.

[hitman_hatton1]

only got the bazza fight.

fought well for 5 rds or so.

how was his fight with pedroza.

was the draw a fair outcome or should either man have got it??

[Calroid]

Yeah I also only saw him in the McGuigan fight. He was out boxing McGuigan halfway through the fight.

[Russell]

Hadn't heard of him before this.

Need to find a fight or two of his now.

[JohnThomas1]

Super fast.

[Lobotomy]

My chief memory of Bernard Taylor is how he tried to run away with Pedroza's title, and copped a hometown draw while Eusebio stood in ring center, swiveling his upper body in whatever direction Taylor moved. The highlight of that stinker was when Taylor tried to play to his Nashville fans with a showboating double shuffle. Pedroza immediately replied with a vastly superior shuffle, executed with a deadpanned business like poker face. Considering the way this situation played out, Eusebio probably deserved to retain his title on that alone.

I felt that Stanley Christodoulu's 147-143 scorecard in El Alacran's favor was a good call. Like Emile Griffith said after his rematch with Joey Archer: "If he wanted the title, he should have come to me!" Taylor wound up using his legs a bit too much, and faded during the championship rounds. (It's alarming to think that in the 12 round era, he might have succeeded in stealing the championship that way.) As I saw it, Pedroza did the smart thing, not bothering to wear himself down by giving chase. Bernard was clearly banking on winning a hometown decision, or at least maintain the notion of securing another shot, which he eventually did against Pedroza's conquerer McGuigan.

Bernard was an extraordinary amateur, who could well have returned from the Moscow Olympics with a Gold Medal, and perhaps even the Val Barker Cup, but he didn't have the firepower needed to reach the top at a professional level. Events later in his career indicate that he would not have been able to withstand Pedroza's offense had he tried to stand up to the Panamanian. The way their draw unfolded, Taylor would have likely retained the title had he been the defending champion instead of challenger. This match was clearly not the sort in which a championship should have changed hands.

Taylor followed up the Pedroza draw with some aggressive knockout wins, but even then his power did not appear to be that impressive. He was a runner all the way, but not the type of fist flying runner which Nino LaRocca was. Nino was able to dismantle the deadly punching Bobby Joe Young, in the kind of instance Bernard would have never been capable of.

While I also watched Taylor in a few outings on ESPN, he did not leave much of an impression on me. My chief interest in him was as to how he evolved after such a highly decorated amateur career, like Clint Jackson, Davey Lee Armstrong, Johnny Bumphus, Howard Davis Jr. and other skilled, experienced three round boxers from the States whose punch for pay forays did not quite measure up to their earlier successes.

[markedwardscott]

He was pretty well-hyped in the mid eighties. I think they used to call him the B-T Express.

[jaywilton]

My chief memory of Bernard Taylor is how he tried to run away with Pedroza's title, and copped a hometown draw while Eusebio stood in ring center, swiveling his upper body in whatever direction Taylor moved. The highlight of that stinker was when Taylor tried to play to his Nashville fans with a showboating double shuffle. Pedroza immediately replied with a vastly superior shuffle, executed with a deadpanned business like poker face. Considering the way this situation played out, Eusebio probably deserved to retain his title on that alone.

I felt that Stanley Christodoulu's 147-143 scorecard in El Alacran's favor was a good call. Like Emile Griffith said after his rematch with Joey Archer: "If he wanted the title, he should have come to me!" Taylor wound up using his legs a bit too much, and faded during the championship rounds. (It's alarming to think that in the 12 round era, he might have succeeded in stealing the championship that way.) As I saw it, Pedroza did the smart thing, not bothering to wear himself down by giving chase. Bernard was clearly banking on winning a hometown decision, or at least maintain the notion of securing another shot, which he eventually did against Pedroza's conquerer McGuigan.

Bernard was an extraordinary amateur, who could well have returned from the Moscow Olympics with a Gold Medal, and perhaps even the Val Barker Cup, but he didn't have the firepower needed to reach the top at a professional level. Events later in his career indicate that he would not have been able to withstand Pedroza's offense had he tried to stand up to the Panamanian. The way their draw unfolded, Taylor would have likely retained the title had he been the defending champion instead of challenger. This match was clearly not the sort in which a championship should have changed hands.

Taylor followed up the Pedroza draw with some aggressive knockout wins, but even then his power did not appear to be that impressive. He was a runner all the way, but not the type of fist flying runner which Nino LaRocca was. Nino was able to dismantle the deadly punching Bobby Joe Young, in the kind of instance Bernard would have never been capable of.

While I also watched Taylor in a few outings on ESPN, he did not leave much of an impression on me. My chief interest in him was as to how he evolved after such a highly decorated amateur career, like Clint Jackson, Davey Lee Armstrong, Johnny Bumphus, Howard Davis Jr. and other skilled, experienced three round boxers from the States whose punch for pay forays did not quite measure up to their earlier successes.T"No Thanks" for the memory's...I thought it was just me-but I'm still dizzy from watching Taylor-Pedroza;Taylor had to have set the world record for circling around an opponent...actually,I need a lobotomy from watching it.

[Titan1]

Probably one of the top three fastest fighters in the world in his prime.Didn't exactly fight the right competiton coming up, and that hurt him in his title fights.He was actually outboxing McGuigan for a few rounds.

[Bigcat]

Taylor is one of those forgotten class fighters , he was very fast and boxed in a hard division when Champ meant champ.. Bernard gave Barry Mcguigan some very tough rounds to think about , he was inspirational for anyone who loves the underdog, he never bragged but could back up by being one of the best in his day.. A very clever individual, and a great guy..