Emmanuel Taylor ready to seize the moment

 By: Almir Teslic


This Saturday in Cincinnati, Ohio, Adrien "The Problem" Broner returns back in action after his ten round decision victory over Carlos Molina in May. Broner suffered the first major setback of his professional career against Marcos Maidana in December of last year, where he ultimately lost his WBA Welterweight title. Now fighting in the 140lb division, Broner's options are endless as he looks to get back on top and potentially become a four division champion.


Standing in his way is Emmanuel Taylor, a boxer many fans are familiar with after back-to-back national television performances on ESPN Friday Night Fight's against Chris Algieri and Karim Mayfield. Taylor will look to capitalize on his recent momentum and spoil the homecoming of Adrien Broner and possibly launch himself into the title picture in the Light Welterweight division.

Taylor's manager, Dave Price shared a few words about the upcoming opportunity for his fighter and briefly spoke about the future of rising Super Middleweight prospect, Jesse Hart.


 

First and foremost, your fighter Emmanuel Taylor is fighting on the biggest stage of his career this Saturday night against former three-division champion Adrien Broner. Did you have any reservations about matching such a young fighter in his opponents backyard or was this simply an opportunity you/he could not pass up? 

When the offer was originally presented the risk didn't match the rewards but after further negotiations we reached an amount that we felt was more in line with the risk.

Emmanuel Taylor showed tremendous heart in his last fight on ESPN Friday Night Fights against Karim Mayfield in July, do you think jumping straight back into the ring less then two months after a ten round fight could actually benefit Emmanuel in a way? He was in against a tough opponent, but I imagine he’s going to be in great shape come Saturday night.

Emanuel is in great shape since he fought in July but i really don't think that the last fight was a tough fight. There were a lot of circumstances that made the fight closer than it should have been.  Emanuel was at the hospital all night with the birth of his first born child and i think he was really concerned about pushing on the pedal and not having any gas in the tank. Conditions being normal i believe he would have stopped Mayfield in 8.

Taylor fought current WBO Welterweight Champion Chris Algieri back in February and gave him a competitive fight. How important do you feel that fight was for Emmanuel’s growth as a fighter, considering the fact that he’s only 23 years old and had the biggest win of his career during his next fight?

 Algieri showed Emanuel where he could have been had he beat Algieri. Even in the loss this showed Manny that he, was one or two wins away from being in the big leagues.

Taylor is a huge underdog going into his fight against Adrien Broner this weekend, and in recent months we've seen anything can happen in boxing. Not to overlook the task he has ahead of him on Saturday night, but with a potential victory over Broner, any particular guys you would like to see Taylor fight next?

 A win over Broner would be huge and would mean a rematch with Broner but guys on the horizon? Anyone at 140lbs.  Danny Garcia is probably going to move up to 147 so Matthysse will have to do.

 

Speaking of Chris Algieri, as I’m sure you already know, he is scheduled to defend his title against Manny Pacquiao on November 22^nd, in Macao, China. What are your thoughts on that fight? Do you have a prediction of the outcome of that fight, by any chance? 

 

Well i think Chris has a chance against Pacquiao. He has fought a harder puncher in Provodnikov but of course Pacquiao is an all around better and busier fighter. But i think it's possible for Chris to come out victorious.

 

One of your rising prospects, Jesse Hart has fought twice this year and is scheduled to return again next month in Atlantic City, can you tell me a little bit about the future plans for your young prospect? Will we see him in a big fight as early as 2015?

 Jesse Hart is ready to take steps to become a world champion right now. He is with Top Rank and Bob Arum said by the end of 2015 he, would make him a world champion. I know what Jesse does to fighters in the gym and what he has done to fighters that appear to be ducks because he gets them out early but these are he same guys who beat other undefeated prospects and take supposed contenders the distance. I think 2015 he moves from contender to champion. D and D Management and Top Rank have invested a lot of time and money in Jesse so there is no reason to rush him but he is so advanced we can't hold him back.

Thank you for your time Dave.