By TIM DAHLBERG -- Associated Press
 To Jermain Taylor, the future is as simple as a 1-2-3 combination to an opponent's head.

 It goes something like this:

 Win an Olympic gold medal. Turn pro. Make millions and support his family.

 Those are all big aspirations for Taylor, the U.S. boxing hope at 156 pounds. But he is as matter-of-fact about his chances of accomplishing them as he is methodical in the ring.

 "After the Olympics, my mother will never have to work again," Taylor said. "I'll make sure of that."

 Taylor is so confident of his chances, he doesn't worry about the Cuban, Russian or German he might face at the Sept. 15-Oct. 1 Sydney Games. He's more concerned about making it to Australia in one piece.

 "I worry while I'm driving that someone might hit me and I might get hurt," Taylor said. "Or I worry when I get up in the morning that I might fall down some steps and hurt myself. I'm so close to going that all I can think of are ways I can get hurt and have to stay home."

 Coming off a dominating performance to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team in February in perhaps the most competitive weight class, the 21-year-old power puncher from Little Rock, Ark., is peaking at just the right time.

 He's doing so with a prolike style that has promoters crawling over themselves to sign Taylor, who reminds some observers of David Reid, the 156-pound gold medalist at the Atlanta Olympics.

 "I think Reid was a little more technical, but Jermain is stronger," said Al Mitchell, who coached the 1996 Olympic team and now coaches Reid and Taylor. "Jermain is so big and strong for 156 pounds. And his mental outlook is great."

 Taylor's story is a familiar one for a boxer. His father left when he was 5, and his mother struggled to support the family on her salary as a nurse's assistant.

 "I was kind of raised up quick," Taylor said.

 That meant being a father figure to his two younger sisters, now 20 and 18, while trying to stay out of the kind of trouble that was easy to find if Taylor wasn't in the gym.

 "I had to kind of raise my sisters," he said. "Our relationship isn't like brother-sister. It's more like father-daughter. I want to win for them, too."

 A cousin first brought Taylor to the gym when he was 13, and he promptly took a few beatings before discovering he might have some talent in the ring.

 Taylor started winning fights, and with the victories came the chance to go to tournaments in other cities, which fascinated the youngster who had never been outside of Arkansas in his life.

 His coach, Ozell Nelson of the Arkansas Boxing Club, told a 15-year-old Taylor that someday he could compete in the Olympics.

 "I didn't know how big it was," Taylor recalled. "I set a goal to go to the Olympics, but I didn't really have an idea of what it was about. It took me a while to figure it out."

 The same year Reid won the only boxing gold medal for the U.S. Olympic team in Atlanta, Taylor won the national junior tournament.

 Taylor continued to be impressive after leaving the juniors, capturing Golden Gloves titles the last two years and blossoming this year by breezing through the team trials and the America's Olympic qualifier, winning nine straight.

 "The key was getting him to stay behind his knee and not fall back and lose power," Mitchell said. "Once that happened, you could see the difference in his power."

 Taylor doesn't even try to fight with the left-jab, right-hand style that international judges tend to see -- and score -- better in amateur boxing. He relies on his power and aggressiveness to make the difference.

 "I get most of my points off my straight right hand and left hook," he said. "It's harder with my style, but I believe I have more control. And if a guy feels my power, I know he's out of his game plan."

 It's precisely that power that has boxing's big promoters circling Taylor, whose pro prospects might be even better than his chances of Olympic gold.

 Taylor, of course, believes his chances of doing both are very good.

 "Just because I'm on the Olympic team doesn't mean a thing to me right now," he said. "I know I need to go to Sydney and win a gold. And I know I'm going to do it."