GL: It was supposed to be a September to remember and the first three major shows of the month have been scrapped. Will we have a fight in Atlantic City on September 29? "Both Jermain Taylor and Kelly Pavlik have pretty good track records of showing up and fighting when they're supposed to. Barring some strange act of God or anything from the other guy, we're going to have a fight on September 29 and we're going to have a sold out Boardwalk Hall. People better honestly, truly, if you haven't gotten your tickets yet you better call and get your tickets because the ringside seats are gone and 70% of the arena is sold and there's weeks to go. If you really want to have a good seat to that fight you need to call now and order tickets."

GL: It has been well documented that this is going to be Jermain's last fight at 160. You've been back and forth to the Poconos a few times, how is he looking?

Lou DiBella: "He looked sensational and I don't think his weight has been better in any camp I've seen recently. He started camp early and he went away to the Poconos in a really sequestered kind of environment, but with a lot of fighters around and a great atmosphere. He's excited about this fight and he's more upbeat than I've seen him in a long time. Physically he's already in remarkable shape and he's got significant time left to prepare."

GL: In your opinion is Pavlik as dangerous to Jermain as Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright?

LD: "No. Of course not. You're talking about two hall of famers and an all time great with Hopkins. Winky is likely to get into the Hall of Fame, so you're talking about two hall of famers. I don't think there's any boxing expert in the world who would favor Pavlik over Hopkins or Wright and neither of those guys are as good as they were a couple of years ago."

GL: I did interview, I heard the tape, you heard the tape. Emanuel Steward recently told Boxingtalk that Bernard Hopkins proved that he was the better fighter than Jermain. Can you tell us why you disagree?

LD: "First of all, Emanuel says some things that he doesn't even mean. Bernard's had the better career and he's the more skilled intelligent fighter. In the second fight, knowing the other guy was so much bigger and stronger, the fact that he was able to keep it close and lose so well is vintage Bernard Hopkins. He wasn't going to take any chances and he was making a lot of money. Then he moved up in weight and beat up on guys who weren't in the condition or didn't have the same smarts he did. Jermain's performances over Hopkins will make him hall of fame material eventually, especially if he goes out there and does by what he has to do by beating the number one contender. If he goes out there and beats Pavlik, what are the haters going to say?"

GL: In your opinion, has Jermain improved since Emanuel Steward began training him?

LD: "Umm...no. But that's no down to Emanuel Steward necessarily. He also fought Winky Wright, who is a southpaw and didn't fight like Winky Wright that night. He fought like a flat footed fighter and that threw everybody off. Winky is one of the hardest guys in the world to fight. Look how ugly the Hopkins-Wright fight was. Bernard won, but that was hideous. You don't look good against Winky Wright, you don't look good against Cory Spinks and with respect to Ouma, until he ran out of gas he looked pretty good. And who in this world wants to fight Kassim Ouma? He's the most ducked fighter in boxing. He hasn't gotten a lot better since Emanuel came on, but I want to see how he looks now against a guy who's going to be coming right at him. Emanuel is a great trainer and he's the smartest guy at coming up with a game plan. There's a reason he's in the hall of fame. Jermain will tell you he hasn't looked good in his last couple of fights and they have been with Emanuel."

GL: Tell us about Berto in the co-feature.

LD: "Berto's ready. He's training great and he just had a birthday last week. Estrada is a bad man though, he gave Mosley a helluva go. Even though Shane won the fight Estrada proved that he belongs in the upper echelon at welterweight. His fight with Kermit was one of the best fights of the year and now Estrada is thinking beat Berto and get a big showdown with Kermit Cintron. Both guys have a lot at stake. This is the best guy Berto has ever fought. When you beat David Estrada, you're looking at one or two fights to a world championship or one or two fights to a big fight. If he could get past Estrada he's going to be looking at Zab Judah. He's going to be looking at guys who are big names or world champions."

GL: Malignaggi wanted to defend his title on that date. When will he return to the ring? And can you give us some thoughts on the N'Dou press releases demanding the rematch clause to be honored?

LD: "I'm working with Al Haymon who is N'Dou's advisor and I'm sure he's going to be satisfied with how things work out. Frankly, no one is looking to screw Lovemore N'Dou, but at the same time he needs to understand that there isn't a big market for you to fight when you get shut out."

GL: Will we really have to endure a rematch?

LD: "Maybe. Maybe somewhere down the line. It's very unlikley that it would be next. We understand what Lovemore's contract says and nobody is trying to screw him, he might just be better chilling out a little bit. It was a one sided fight and there's not a big market for it.

GL: Who's going to be next for Paulie?

LD: "We've been talking to Showtime and he's very excited about the possibility of building a relationship with Showtime. We've talked about the possibility of getting in a unification with Junior Witter. There's also been talks of having a 140 pound tournament with all of the champions, who are basically free agents. There's Rees-Salita, which could be made. There's Paulie and Junior Witter and that fight could be made by early next year."

GL: Is there anything you'd like to say in closing?

LD: "God willing there will be a huge fight in Atlantic City on September 29 at a sold out Boardwalk Hall. It's a fight between the two best middleweights in the world and I think this is going to be Jermain's defining moment to solidify his position as the best middleweight in the world."

M,

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