Middleweight champ Jermain Taylor was soaking in his Jacuzzi, watching “The Sopranos,” the only show he watches, when the realization of attaining his lifelong dream hit him with such passion he literally yelled out loud, “Damn, man, I’m No.1!”

If only Bernard Hopkins would get the message.

Taylor (24-0) dethroned Hopkins (46-3-1) on July 16 in a blood-and-guts fight in Las Vegas. The split decision was not without controversy. Hopkins won the final round on two of three cards.

“It was a heist!” Hopkins screamed most recently. “It was an out-and-out heist!”

No wonder Taylor, who went into the fight respecting Hopkins, now has nothing but disdain for the former champ who had defended his title 20 times.

“I feel like I’ve lost all respect for him,” Taylor said yesterday at Gallagher’s Steak House. “I know he’s just a scared man. He’s nothing now. He doesn’t have the belts now. Now he’s not world champion. He’s nothing.”

Hopkins is the man Taylor probably will fight again in December. Because of the six stitches Taylor needed to close a gash in his scalp, courtesy of a Hopkins head butt, he can’t train for about two months.

Taylor’s promoter, Lou DiBella, said there is a rematch clause and he hopes Hopkins signs on. The Taylor camp is sick of hearing Hopkins’ cry of “We wuz robbed!”