European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 21, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May stars and stripes Mideast edition Page 29 Taylor retains middleweight title on split decision wac who Champ turns away Middle Champ Spinks by Noah trister the associated press Don King sat two seats to the left of Jermain Taylor during the pos fight news conference and spoke for everyone in Cory Spinks you got it Spinks vociferous promoter Taylor defended his Middle weight championship with another close Victory saturday out pointing Spinks in a split Deci Taylor had winning scores of 117111 and 115113 from two of the judges the third had it 117111 for As the 12th round Spinks raised his arms in Tri and he began dancing around the ring when it was that was i dont know what to it was Highway Spinks i thought i gave a great Box ing that was a bit of a in the Taylo Spinks fight was overshadowed a bit by Kelly Pav like decisive Victory Over Edison Miranda in the final under card Taylor defended his title for the fourth but this Victory did Little to satisfy his Spinks and Taylor spent most of the Early going sizing up each Spinks is 2vi inches Shorter than the 6foot but he did a Good Job staying out of the Cham pions who going to look Good with Cory Spinks said Emanuel Stew Taylors All you want to do is get the win and move Cory Spinks was Jab and before the punch got Hes running Back the two combined to throw 211 punches in the first three rounds and Drew scattered Boos from the by Pavlik and Miranda combined for 191 punches in the first round of their Taylors appearance after the fight said it i Felt he i finally could see out of both my and in not usually at a press id be sitting Here wearing my Taylor came alive a bit during the Middle and knocked Spinks off balance with a solid left in the seventh but Taylor 2701 still Hast knocked any one Down during his nearly two year reign atop the Middle weight the Boos returned during the final in but next time Hope fully Well get an opponent who is Taylor son of former heavy weight Champion Leon is the if Junior middleweight he moved up in weight class to fight Spinks 364 was Taylors Sec Ond straight opponent from a lower weight Taylor beat Kassim Ouma also from the Junior middleweight ranks in Taylor out pointed Bernard Charles Rex Jermain lands a punch on Cory Spinks in the first round of their middleweight championship bout on saturday night in Taylor had winning scores of 117111 and 115113 from two and the third had it 117111 for Hopkins in july 2005 to become middleweight he beat Hopkins in a second decision later that then escaped with a draw against Winky Wright in Memphis in Taylor then beat Ouma in another neither fighter landed Many memorable Taylor threw Only Landing Spinks threw but landed Only 85 not enough to take the title from you cant win a championship by Taylor youve got to suns left with thoughts of what might have been by Bob Baum the associated press Phoenix this with its bitter will be hard for the Phoenix suns to let it will always be one to think of what if Steve Nash the suns gathered for a team meeting and to Clear out their lockers on Only a few hours after they were eliminated by the spurs 114106 in san Anto the Western conference semifinal series went six but the Phoenix fans probably Al ways will remember game with Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw suspended in what was widely viewed As an unjust the suns lost 8885 at Home to go Down 32 and allow san Antonio to close it out at today is the first Day to try to get better and do it next coach Mike Dantoni i know that not a lot of Consola Tion for the but that about All we have right we will be and we will be Stoudemire and Diaw were sus Pended for straying too far from the Bench when Robert Horry sent Nash flying into the scorers table with 18 seconds left in the suns dramatic game 4 Victory in san a Reserve role got a two game sus a firs team Alliba had to sit out the crucial game As did who would have replaced suspensions the Phoe Nissan Antonio series was a clash of styles the suns Ultra fast game against the Rug ged defense and methodically effective offence of the the suns  overcome the smothering play of Bruce Bowen on the unstoppable san Antonio Bahrain Mark the beginning of the end for the Phoenix suns Steve Nash left is fouled by the san Antonio spurs Robert Horry late in game the ensuing scuffle led to suspensions for the suns Amare Stoudemire and Boris and Phoenix lost the next two inside game of Tim Duncan and the emergence of Manu Ginobile from an Early playoff Nash said the spurs Are better than the suns in intangible he they All understand their roles to theres a lot there that they have that we dont and a lot of that just takes Nash believes the Core group of suns should stay we dont need to do anything Nash we have a Good thing As it were right there with san if we can All improve individually and add a few weve got a lot to be optimistic Dantoni weve got to be careful about tinkering with this too he weve got a great product and a great we want to take a baby step and hopefully All we need is a baby the coach acknowledged that he messed up with his first off season moves As general manag that presumably would in clude the signing of Marcus Banks and Jermaine Nei ther was anywhere close to Mak ing the regular Dantoni acknowledged that a Little self examination of his coaching is in he Hopes whatever of season acquisitions there Are will allow him to consider going deeper than the seventh eight Man rotation he maybe i need to loosen up a Little he ill reevaluate that and try to be better As a i do know that More depth will help As it stands Phoenix Fig ures to be about million Over the luxury tax limit next that leads to the annual Specula Tion that Shawn Marion will be the versatile who has guarded everyone from Yao Ming to Tony will make million Over the next two Marion left without talking to reporters on but Dan Toni downplayed any Chance of such a everybody wants Shawn and As an organization Well listen to we have to listen to Dantoni but we love Shawn is one of our Core i dont know How we get better by losing and we want to get Dantoni said some cosmetic changes Are needed to reduce the Overall but said that owner Robert Sarver is willing to spend Over the tax limit to win a Hes not going to commit Finan Cial suicide or Dantoni but Hes very willing to do anything in reason that will get us a Stoudemire skipped saturdays an absence Dantoni just shrugged the Phoenix big Man scored 38 Points Friday night to Cap a remarkable come Back after missing All but three games of last he emerged from Micro fracture surgery on one knee and an arthroscopic cleanup of the other to become the Only Phoenix player to appear in All 82 regular season in the he averaged team highs of1 Points and re his whole where he came was Dantoni Hes 24 years old and Hes Only going to get will be 34 next he has to begin showing signs of hopefully As Amare gets bet As la Leandro Barbosa gets that will take some of the pressure off of Dantoni and weve got to get deeper As a that the first thing Well address in the Phoenix will be watching tues Days draft lottery if Atlanta Doest get one of the top three the suns will get the pick As part of the Joe Johnso Diaw the suns also have Cleveland 21 pick and their own 29 you can get an ail Star out of this Dantoni you add an Allstar to this that pretty