Jermain
Taylor (born August 11, 1978) In December 2000, Taylor signed with
boxing promoter Lou DeBella. Pat Burns became Taylors trainer as a
professional and Ozell Nelson became an assistant. 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. He went on to
fight six more times in 2001, resulting in six more victories. Taylor
continued his winning streak through 2002 and 2003, before defeating
Alex Bunema on March 27, 2004. Taylor's next bout occured on June
19, 2004 against former IBF Light Middleweight Champion Raul Marquez.
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 Marquez. A follow'up right hand put
Marquez down just before the bell rung to end the round. Soon after
Marquez arrived to his corner, his trainer told the referee to stop
the fight, resuling in a technical knockout victory for Taylor. On
December 4, 2004, Taylor fought former 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. 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.
Unified middleweight champion
Taylor vs 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. An agreement was made 10 minutes before
a purse bid was to take place. 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.
Taylor received $2.75 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 pay the fees to the WBA amid
controversy of the organization removing him from their ranking after
questions of whether taylor followed all procedures for the WBA before
his rematch with Hopkins. He was reinstated at the top of the organizations'
middleweight ranking, but his title remained under review. 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. The scores for the fight were 115-113 for Taylor, 115-113
for Wright and 114-114.
Taylor vs Ouma, Spinks
On December 9,
2006, Taylor fought Kassim Ouma at the Altel 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 a 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. Afterwards,
the WBA announced that Taylor was no longer the holder of its Middleweight
Super Championship. On May 19, 2007, Taylor went up against former
Undisputed Welterweight Champion Cory Spinks at the FedEx Forum in
Memphis.
