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1.0 Early life and amateur career

2.0 Professional career

2.1 Fights with Hopkins

2.2 Middleweight Champion

2.3 Fights with Pavlik

2.4 Super middleweight

3.0 Personal life

4.0 See also

5.0 References

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Jermain Taylor Wiki Information

Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American professional boxer and former undisputed middleweight champion. He made his professional boxing debut in 2001 and won his first 23 bouts, which included victories over former champions Raúl Márquez and William Joppy. On July 16, 2005, Taylor defeated Bernard Hopkins to win the undisputed middleweight championship, claiming The Ring magazine middleweight championship and the middleweight titles from the four major boxing organizations.

Taylor, who began boxing at age 13, earned numerous accolades throughout his amateur career, starting with his achievement of the 1996 Under-19 Championship. He went on to win a pair of Police Athletic League (PAL) Championships and National Golden Gloves titles, and he finished second and third at the 1997 and 1998 United States Championships, respectively. In 1998,Taylor won a bronze medal at the Goodwill Games. Then, in 2000, he earned a spot on the Olympic Boxing Team, becoming the first boxer from Arkansas ever to compete in the Olympic Games. Competing at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Taylor ended up winning the bronze medal.

During his reign as champion, Taylor won a rematch against Hopkins and defeated Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks, as well as fighting Winky Wright to a draw. On September 29, 2007, Taylor suffered his first professional loss to Kelly Pavlik and lost a rematch to Pavlik on February 16, 2008. Afterwards, Taylor moved up to the super middleweight division. In his first fight in the weight class, Taylor defeated Jeff Lacy to earn a fight against World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight champion Carl Froch. Taylor, ahead on two of the scorecards, lost the bout to Froch by technical knockout in the final round.

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Early life and amateur career

Taylor was born on August 11, 1978, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He and his three younger sisters were abandoned by his father when he was five years old. Since his mother had to work full-time as a nurse's assistant to support her children, Taylor had to care for his sisters at a young age. He ran track while at McClellan Magnet High School. ^[1] Taylor began boxing at age 13 with Ozell Nelson, Taylor's surrogate father, ^[2] serving as his first trainer. ^[3] ^[4] Taylor earned numerous accolades throughout his amateur career, starting by winning the 1996 Under-19 Championship. He then won a pair of Police Athletic League (PAL) Championships, National Golden Gloves Titles and finished second and third at the 1997 and 1998 United States Championships respectively. Taylor continued to progress as an amateur boxer by winning a bronze medal at the 1998 Goodwill Games. ^[5] His achievement was overshadowed four months later when Taylor's grandmother was murdered. The prime suspect in the murder was one of Taylor's uncles, who was recently paroled after having served nearly half of a 35-year term for aggravated robbery and battery. When police confronted him, Brown took a bottle of hydrochloric acid and swallowed it. As officers tackled him down, he confessed to the murder before he died. ^[6] In 2000, Taylor earned a spot on the Olympic Boxing Team. ^[7] He became the first boxer from Arkansas ever to compete in the Olympic Games. Competing at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Taylor ended up winning the bronze medal.

Professional career

In December 2000, Taylor signed with boxing promoter Lou DiBella. ^[8] Pat Burns became Taylor's trainer as a professional and Ozell Nelson became an assistant. ^[9] He made his professional boxing debut on January 27, 2001, at Madison Square Garden in New York City against Chris Walsh. Taylor managed to knock Walsh down twice with his right hand and won his debut after forcing a stoppage with 16 seconds left in the fourth and final round. ^[10] He went on to fight six more times in 2001, resulting in six more victories. ^[11] Taylor continued his winning streak through 2002 and 2003, before defeating Alex Bunema on March 27, 2004. ^[12] Taylor's next bout occurred on June 19, 2004 against former International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior middleweight champion Raúl Márquez. Taylor controlled the fight by using his jab and right hand throughout the one-sided contest. Near the end of the ninth round, Taylor landed a right uppercut that staggered Márquez. A follow-up right hand put Márquez down just before the bell rung to end the round. Soon after Márquez arrived to his corner, his trainer told the referee to stop the fight, resulting in a technical knockout victory for Taylor. ^[13] On December 4, 2004, Taylor fought former World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight champion William Joppy in his hometown of Little Rock. For the majority of the fight, Joppy made the more aggressive Taylor chase him, while landing few punches and seeming more content to frustrate Taylor. Taylor landed several punches early in the fight and knocked Joppy down in the fifth round en route to a unanimous decision victory with scores of 120–107 from all three judges. ^[14] In his next bout, Taylor fought Daniel Edouard on February 19, 2005. In the third round, Taylor landed a 10-punch combination that hurt Edouard to the point that the referee decided to stop the fight. ^[15]

Fights with Hopkins

Taylor fought Bernard Hopkins for the undisputed middleweight championship on July 16, 2005 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. At age 40, Hopkins entered the bout with a record 20 consecutive successful title defenses and had not lost a fight in 12 years. ^[16] Hopkins entered the boxing match as a 3–2 favorite to win. ^[17] In the first two rounds, Taylor was able to successfully use his jab to control the first two rounds of the fight, although neither fighter was taking any major risks. He tended to move forward towards his opponent, while Hopkins was patient and waited for openings in Taylor's defense. In round five, a clash of heads opened a cut on the top of Taylor's head. In the tenth round, Hopkins hurt Taylor with two right hands that caused Taylor's legs to wobble and forced him to clinch. Taylor won the bout by split decision with two judges scoring the fight 115–113 for Taylor and the other judge scoring it 116–113 for Hopkins. With the victory, Taylor became the new undisputed middleweight champion, ^[18] winning the World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Organization (WBO) and IBF middleweight titles, the WBA middleweight super title and The Ring magazine middleweight championship. ^[19] ^[20] Hopkins appealed the decision, but was denied by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. ^[21]

On December 3, 2005, Taylor defeated Hopkins by unanimous decision in a rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. In order for the rematch to occur, Taylor vacated his IBF middleweight title on October 12, 2005. ^[22] Days before the fight, tensions between Taylor and Hopkins rose after Hopkins mocked Taylor's speech impediment and called him a "phony champion". Taylor responded by bringing a doll with Hopkins' name on it to the final prefight press conference to suggest that he was a "crybaby". In a similar situation to the first fight, Hopkins started out slowly and began pressuring Taylor in the later rounds. ^[23] Hopkins ended the fight with a 101–60 advantage in power punches, while Taylor had success with his jab, outlanding Hopkins 64–29. All three judges scored the bout 115–113 for Taylor. After the fight, Taylor said that he would welcome a challenge against the winner of a fight between former undisputed junior middleweight champion Winky Wright and Sam Soliman. ^[24] On December 10, 2005, Wright defeated Soliman by unanimous decision to retain his number one position in the WBC and WBA middleweight rankings and take over the number one spot in the IBF middleweight rankings. ^[25]

Middleweight Champion

thumb promotional poster for Jermain Taylor vs. Winky Wright On June 17, 2006, Taylor fought Winky Wright at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. The WBC had ordered Taylor and Wright to begin negotiating on the fight on December 12, 2005 and if the two sides could not agree, a purse bid would be ordered. ^[26] An agreement was made 10 minutes before a purse bid was to take place. ^[27] Ozell Nelson, unsatisfied with Taylor's progression between the first and second Hopkins fights, helped convince Taylor to replace Pat Burns with hall of fame trainer Emanuel Steward. ^[28] Taylor received $3.75 million for the fight and Wright made $3.5 million. Wright only paid sanctioning fees for the WBC belt, while Taylor paid fees to the WBC and WBO. Taylor did not paid the fees to the WBA amid controversy of the organization removing him from their rankings after questions of whether Taylor followed all procedures for the WBA before his rematch with Hopkins. He was reinstated at the top the organizations' middleweight rankings, but his title remained under review. ^[29] The bout was evenly competitive through the first 10 rounds, with Wright winning most of the early rounds before Taylor became more active in the latter part of the fight. By the ninth round, Wright had swelling above both his eyes. Wright was winning the bout going into the final round on two of the judges' scorecards, but he was generally passive in the round. Two of the three judges gave the round to Taylor, which resulted in a draw. ^[30] The scores for the fight were 115–113 for Taylor, 115–113 for Wright and 114–114. ^[31]

On December 9, 2006, Taylor fought Kassim Ouma at the Alltel Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Taylor hurt Ouma early in the first round and continued to control the fight through the middle part of the fight with jabs and hooks. During the second half of the fight, Taylor Gradually began to tire and suffered a cut over the left eye, He allowed Ouma to back him into the ropes often as the fight came to an end. However, Ouma was unable to be effective with his punches. Taylor won the bout by unanimous decision with scores of 117–111, 115–113 and 118–110. ^[32] Afterwards, the WBA announced that Taylor was no longer the holder of its middleweight super title. ^[33] On May 19, 2007, Taylor went up against former undisputed welterweight champion Cory Spinks at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. Taylor dictated the fight by staying away from Spinks and landing one punch at a time. He hurt Spinks with a right hand in the seventh round. Spinks, with a much shorter reach, had difficulty getting within a closer range against his opponent. Taylor landed 101 of 319 punches, while Spinks landed just 85 of 542. Taylor won the fight by split decision with two judges scoring 117–111 and 115–113 in favor of him and the other scoring 117–111 for Spinks. ^[34]

Fights with Pavlik

In his next bout, Taylor fought Kelly Pavlik on September 29, 2007, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Pavlik began rising in popularity after an upset victory over Edison Miranda in a middleweight title eliminator to determine the number one contender to fight Taylor. ^[35] During their amateur careers, Taylor had defeated Pavlik on February 9, 2000 in the opening round of the United States Olympic trials. ^[36] In the second round of the bout, Taylor landed a right hand and followed-up with several more punches which resulted in the first knockdown of the fight. Pavlik got up and managed to make it to the end of the round. Entering the seven round, Taylor had a commanding lead on all three judges' scorecards. With less than a minute remaining in the round, Pavlik landed a right cross that sent Taylor into a corner. Pavlik closed in and threw a left uppercut followed by a left and right hook and right uppercut. Two more left hooks dropped Taylor to the canvas as the referee stepped in to halt the fight. It was the first time Taylor had loss in his professional career and the first time he had ever been knocked down. ^[37] One month later, Taylor exercised a rematch clause in his contract with Pavlik. The rematch took place at a weight of , six pounds higher than the middleweight limit. ^[38] Due to disappointing performances, Emanuel Steward was fired as Taylor's trainer and replaced with Ozell Nelson. Fighting at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on February 16, 2008, Taylor lost the rematch to Pavlik by unanimous decision. ^[39]

Super middleweight

After the two losses to Pavlik, Taylor moved up to the super middleweight division. On November 15, 2008, Taylor defeated Jeff Lacy to earn a mandatory fight against the winner of a bout between Carl Froch and Jean Pascal for the vacant WBC super middleweight title, ^[40] a fight that was won by Froch. ^[41] On April 25, 2009, at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, Taylor fought Carl Froch for the WBC super middleweight title. Using his quicker hand speed and superior boxing skills, Taylor was able to control the first two rounds of the fight. In the third round, Taylor knocked Froch down for the first time in his career with a right hand. Dominated through the first nine rounds of the bout, Froch began to stage a comeback by outperforming Taylor in the tenth and eleventh rounds. Entering the final round, Taylor was ahead 106–102 on two of the judges' scorecards, while Froch was ahead 106–102 on the other. During the round, Froch landed a right hand that sent Taylor to the canvas. He got up, but Froch quickly went after him, trapping him against the ropes and landing several punches before the referee stepped in to stop the bout, earning Froch the technical knockout victory. ^[42]

Personal life

Taylor is married to former Louisiana Tech University basketball player Erica Taylor, who was selected in the second round of the 2005 WNBA Draft by the Washington Mystics. ^[43] Jermain and Erica Taylor have three daughters. Taylor gained immense popularity in the state for frequently mentioning how proud he was to be from Arkansas. He is known to be an enthusiastic fan of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks and has visited the Arkansas campus to talk to the football team. ^[44] Taylor oftens sports a large Razorback on the back of his boxing robe and trunks for his fights. ^[45] He was named "Arkansan of the Year" for 2005 by the Arkansas Times . In 2007, Taylor was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame along with former National Football League (NFL) players Rod Smith and Willie Roaf. ^[46] Taylor has modeled for Everlast, GQ and Vogue .