Last week Ronald "Winky" Wright defeated an outmatched Ike Quartey in front of his home crowd in Florida, even knocking him down early in the fight. It was sweet vindication for Wright, who felt he was robbed of the middleweight title in his draw with Jermain Taylor. Saturday night at the Arkansas' Alltel Arena - Taylor's backyard - Taylor takes on Kassim "The Dream" Ouma, yet another junior middleweight moving up six pounds to face the champion. A Taylor victory would set up a possible rematch between himself and Wright.

Taylor, 25-0-1 (17), before winning the 160-pound title, gained experience while padding his record by feasting on blown-up junior middleweights, like Alex Bunema and Raul Marquez. Since beating Bernard Hopkins for the middleweight title Taylor has not been in a controversial-free fight, and, depending on how you look at it, one could argue that Taylor should really be 0-3 in his last three fights. To his credit, he hasn't taken on an easy fight since winning the title, and seems to be improving his game all the time. Taylor was easily Wright's toughest fight in a long time.

But Taylor-Ouma, as intriguing as it sounds, is an illusion. Ouma, 25-2-1 (15), is a star fighter who throws punches in bunches, but he is moving up in weight for the first time. Ouma is a good fighter, but team Taylor knows that there is little risk in facing a smaller man with only decent power. Although a southpaw, Ouma has a 5-inch height disadvantage and will definitely be introduced to Taylor's stellar jab.

There are some good signs for underdog Ouma. Between last week's Wright-Quartey fight and Taylor-Ouma, this one has the better chance of producing an upset. Ouma is young an hungry, a former child soldier from Uganda who craves the big money fights to support his family. He has heart and talent, and will dig down deep if he has too. He probably will have to, too, against the more experienced Taylor, and though he has a decent chin, his volume punches may leave him exposed for Taylor's shots.

The fight should be exciting, with Taylor establishing his jab and Ouma proving a pest on the inside. Ouma may touch the canvas once or twice, but he should make it through a tough battle which ends yet again in favor of middlweight champion Taylor.

Prediction: Taylor by split decision