After his second straight razor-thin conquest of Bernard Hopkins, WBC/WBA/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor is eying a tune-up fight in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas. "It would be a crime to put Jermain in another tough fight without a breather after going 24 rounds with Bernard Hopkins," promoter Lou DiBella said. "We expect a fight with Winky by next summer, but Jermain deserves a rest. I'm going to line up something so his fans in Arkansas can come see him."

Hopkins, who turns 41 next month, is non-committal about his future, but has hinted at having another fight in January, possibly in his hometown of Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, WBC/WBA #1 Winky Wright will face IBF #1 Sam Soliman on Saturday at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT. The winner will eventually get a shot at Taylor. Winky ripped the Taylor camp today for wanting to take a tune-up fight. "I went 24 rounds with Shane Mosley and another 12 with Felix Trinidad, in a new weight class, back-to-back-to-back, and I'm seven years older than Jermain," stated Wright. "Sounds to me like Jermain's promoter doesn't have a high level of confidence in his fighter."

Barring a draw or no-decision, the vacant IBF middleweight title will awarded this weekend to either Kingsley Ikeke or Arthur Abraham, who collide Saturday in Leipzig, Germany. Taylor had to give up that belt because he was unable to make his mandatory defense against Soliman due to the rematch clause in his bout contract for the first Hopkins fight.

Finally, WBA "regular" middleweight champion Maselino Masoe is itching to get back into the ring after more than a year-and-a-half without a fight. He was scheduled to face WBO #1 Felix Sturm on November 26, but that fight was postponed due to an elbow injury suffered by Sturm. No new date has been set.