In retrospect, it was probably a bad strategy for the normally politically astute Bernard Hopkins to tell everyone he was going to knock out Jermain Taylor leading up to their rematch. Because it seems like the judges were holding the fact that he didn't against him.

Otherwise Hopkins improved on his performance in the first fight but still lost a unanimous decision on all three judges scorecards, 115-113, to Jermain Taylor, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas last night. I scored it 116-114 for Hopkins.

The problem was Jermain Taylor looked a lot better, too.

The fight was almost a carbon copy of the first encounter, but much more difficult to score, as Hopkins attacked Taylor in the opening round and engaged a little more throughout; Taylor, however, was alert and handled Hopkins' counters more effectively this time around. In the first few rounds, Taylor would respond to Hopkins' one-punch counters with short bursts and flurries, a strategy that seemed successful until Hopkins got into his groove later on. Neither man seemed noticeably to tire down the stretch, but though Taylor, the stronger man, moved Hopkins back with punches, it was Hopkins who hurt Taylor on at least one occasion, but couldn't finish the job. Taylor landed his jab more in the fight, but still kept getting nailed with Hopkins' right hand. In the closing rounds, as in the first fight, it was all Hopkins, but Taylor held his own.

A cynic would say that the boxing world wants Hopkins out of the fight game, and that without a heavyweight champion to carry the sport, boxing is in dire need of a hot, young all-American kid to carry the sport. Jermain Taylor is that kid. Regardless of whether you believe Taylor won either fight, it is clear that Taylor is too one-dimensional a fighter to be able to maintain a dominant hold of the middleweight crown. He was roughed up by a fighter one month shy of his 41st birthday, and Hopkins' ability to compete at such an advanced age against an undefeated 26-year-old says more about Hopkins' legend than it does about Taylor's skills.

Hopkins, 46-4-1 (32), was not given the benefit of the doubt because he fights a counter-punching style that everyone but boxing purists hate. He may not be the most fun to watch, but there's a reason he went undefeated for ten years. Ask Oscar De La Hoya or Felix Trinidad.

Taylor, 24-0 (17), is a gentleman of the sport and is the antithesis to the lude, scheming "Executioner". He will probably be one of those fighters who keeps losing and regaining the title. A legend in the making? Hardly. It's hard not to like the affable Arkansan, but he just doesn't have that je ne ce quois outside of his supposed one-punch knockout power.

When Hopkins entered the ring he wore a black executioner's mask while "This is a Man's World" echoed throughout the arena. If this was indeed Hopkins' last performance, he has nothing to be ashamed of. He executed a near perfect fight.