TWO recent rematches have produced two black eyes for boxing. Let’s hope Taylor-Hopkins II doesn’t follow the same path.

With the stench of Tarver-Jones III and Corrales-Castillo II still thick in the air, Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins met in Manhattan yesterday to formally announce their Dec. 3 rematch in Las Vegas for the undisputed middleweight championship.

Taylor (24-0, 17 KOs) dethroned Hopkins (46-3-1, 32 KOs) last July, earning a controversial split decision. Judge Duane Ford awarded Taylor the 12th round, which Hopkins claims was clearly his. The one-point margin gave Taylor the IBO, WBC, WBA and WBO belts.

“Jermain Taylor got the victory, but he didn’t defeat Bernard Hopkins. It was the system,” Hopkins said yesterday.

We can live with questionable judging, just like we live with questionable officiating in football and umpiring in baseball. We can’t live with cheating the public and cheating, period, which is what happened in Tarver-Jones III and Corrales-Castillo II.

Jones, after losing two consecutive fights by knockouts, didn’t fight to win against Tarver two weeks ago in Tampa. He fought to survive, thus cheating every single customer who paid $49.95 to watch him clown around the ring.

Corrales-Castillo II last Saturday was marred when Castillo not only showed up 3 ½ pounds over the 135-pound weight limit, but his doctor was caught trying to slide his foot under the scale to manipulate the weigh-in.

After watching the clearly stronger Castillo knock out Corrales in the fourth round, Shaw regrets going through with the fight, saying, “it was unfair to Diego Corrales.”

Yet, there’s a conference call today to discuss an unnecessary Corrales-Castillo III. Saturday’s fight will be rebroadcast on Showtime at 9 p.m.

Now Taylor and Hopkins will spend the next two months trying to convince us their rematch will be worth the $49.95 HBO PPV will charge for the 12-rounder set for Mandalay Bay.

After a pretty good start to the year with Zab Judah upsetting Corey Spinks, Corrales’ courageous win over Castillo in a legitimate lightweight fight last May, and Ricky Hatton upsetting Kostya Tszyu in June, the sport has ruined its momentum. That leaves just two fights to salvage the year: WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko defending his title against Hasim Rahman Nov. 12 at the Thomas & Mack Center and Taylor-Hopkins II.

Meanwhile, former IBF light middleweight champ Kassim Ouma returns to the ring tomorrow night when he meets Alfredo Cuevas (25-7-1) in a Golden Boy East promotion at the Borgata in Atlantic City.