Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional boxerProfessional boxing, or prizefighting, emerged in the early twentieth century as boxing gradually attained legitimacy and became a regulated, sanctioned sport. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse which is divided among the fighters and promoters as determined by contract...
and former
undisputed middleweight championThis is a comprehensive list of all Boxing Undisputed Middleweight Champions, following the undisputed champion definition set forth by the major boxing organizations...
. He made his professional boxing debut in 2001 and won his first 23 bouts, which included victories over former champions
Raúl MárquezRaúl Márquez is a Mexican boxer who represented the United States in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain and an IBF Jr. Middleweight Champion. In 1976 Raul came to the United States and began an amateur career in boxing. In 1992 Raul made his Pro Debut in San Antonio, Tx...
and
William JoppyWilliam Torelle Joppy is an American middleweight boxer. Joppy held the WBA middleweight title on two occasions. He first became the WBA champion in June 1996 by stopping defender Shinji Takehara in Japan with a flurry of punches in the ninth round. He then would make a couple defenses of his crown...
. On July 16, 2005, Taylor defeated
Bernard HopkinsBernard Hopkins, known as the Executioner is an American boxer. He is best known for his ten year reign as middleweight world champion in which he successfully defended his title a record 20 times. He is the first fighter to retain all 4 major boxing governing body belts including the Ring...
to win the undisputed middleweight championship, claiming
The RingThe Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...
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 LeagueThe Police Athletic League is an organization in many American police departments in which members of the police force coach young people, both boys and girls, in sports, and help with homework and other school-related activities. The purpose is to build character, help strengthen police-community...
(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 GamesThe Goodwill Games were an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
. Then, in 2000, he earned a spot on the
Olympic Boxing TeamThe Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 16 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, 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-Early life:Born into poverty, at the age of six he was kidnapped and forced to join the National Resistance Army and consequently did not see his family for five years. Ouma is the 7th of 13 children, which include 7 brothers and 5 sisters. Only 4 brothers are still alive.-Amateur career:Upon...
and
Cory SpinksCorey Spinks is a professional boxer. He's the son of former heavyweight champion of the world Leon Spinks. Cory was born five days after his dad defeated Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight world title in 1978. Cory is the nephew of former light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion Michael...
, as well as fighting
Winky WrightRonald Lamont "Winky" Wright is an American boxer, the former undisputed light middleweight world champion and a current middleweight contender....
to a draw. On September 29, 2007, Taylor suffered his first professional loss to
Kelly PavlikKelly Pavlik is an American professional boxer. He is The Ring, WBC, and WBO middleweight champion, defeating Jermain Taylor to earn those titles...
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 LacyJeffrey Scott Lacy is an American boxer. He is a former International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion.-Amateur career:...
to earn a fight against
World Boxing CouncilThe World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
(WBC) super middleweight champion
Carl FrochCarl Froch is an English professional boxer and is the current WBC Super Middleweight champion, since defeating Jean Pascal on points for the vacant title on 6 December 2008...
. Taylor, ahead on two of the scorecards, lost the bout to Froch by technical knockout in the final round.
Early life and amateur career
Taylor was born on August 11, 1978, in
Little RockLittle Rock is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Pulaski County. The Metropolitan Statistical Area, had a population of 675,069 people, according to 2008 census estimates...
,
ArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquin name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the...
. 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 SchoolMcClellan Magnet High School is a magnet high school in Little Rock, Arkansas and part of the Little Rock School District.McClellan Magnet High School has a history of being an exceptional school. 41 years ago Senator John L...
. Taylor began boxing at age 13 with Ozell Nelson, Taylor's surrogate father, serving as his first trainer. Taylor earned numerous accolades throughout his amateur career, starting by winning the 1996 Under-19 Championship. He then won a pair of
Police Athletic LeagueThe Police Athletic League is an organization in many American police departments in which members of the police force coach young people, both boys and girls, in sports, and help with homework and other school-related activities. The purpose is to build character, help strengthen police-community...
(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 GamesThe Goodwill Games were an international sports competition, created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s...
. 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 acidHydrochloric acid is the solution of hydrogen chloride in water. It is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid and has major industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid....
and swallowed it. As officers tackled him down, he confessed to the murder before he died. In 2000, Taylor earned a spot on the
Olympic Boxing TeamThe Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 16 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
. 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 DiBellaLouis John DiBella, Jr. is a boxing promoter and television/film producer. Among his past and present boxers are Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins, both former middleweight world champions, the former of whom was dethroned by the new and current middleweight world champion Kelly Pavlik, also part...
. Pat Burns became Taylor's trainer as a professional and Ozell Nelson became an assistant. He made his
professional boxingProfessional boxing, or prizefighting, emerged in the early twentieth century as boxing gradually attained legitimacy and became a regulated, sanctioned sport. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse which is divided among the fighters and promoters as determined by contract...
debut on January 27, 2001, at
Madison Square GardenMadison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, has been the name of four arenas in New York City. It is also the name of the entity which owns the arena and several of the professional sports franchises which play there. There have been four incarnations of...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
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 occurred on June 19, 2004 against former
International Boxing FederationThe International Boxing Federation, or IBF, is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...
(IBF) junior middleweight champion
Raúl MárquezRaúl Márquez is a Mexican boxer who represented the United States in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain and an IBF Jr. Middleweight Champion. In 1976 Raul came to the United States and began an amateur career in boxing. In 1992 Raul made his Pro Debut in San Antonio, Tx...
. Taylor controlled the fight by using his
jabA jab is one of the four main punches used in boxing. Several variations of the jab exist, but every jab shares these characteristics: while in a boxing stance, the lead fist is thrown straight ahead and the arm is fully extended...
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. On December 4, 2004, Taylor fought former
World Boxing AssociationThe World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title, at the professional level. It is also the most major title out of the four. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
(WBA) middleweight champion
William JoppyWilliam Torelle Joppy is an American middleweight boxer. Joppy held the WBA middleweight title on two occasions. He first became the WBA champion in June 1996 by stopping defender Shinji Takehara in Japan with a flurry of punches in the ninth round. He then would make a couple defenses of his crown...
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 decisionA unanimous decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking in which all three judges agree on which fighter won the match....
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
combinationA striking combination is a combination of strikes performed in rapid succession, usually from a stand-up position. If the combination includes only punches, it is called a punching combination, and if it includes only kicks, it is called a kicking combination....
that hurt Edouard to the point that the referee decided to stop the fight.
Fights with Hopkins
Taylor fought
Bernard HopkinsBernard Hopkins, known as the Executioner is an American boxer. He is best known for his ten year reign as middleweight world champion in which he successfully defended his title a record 20 times. He is the first fighter to retain all 4 major boxing governing body belts including the Ring...
for the undisputed middleweight championship on July 16, 2005 at the MGM Grand in
Las Vegas, NevadaLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of...
. At age 40, Hopkins entered the bout with a record 20 consecutive successful title defenses and had not lost a fight in 12 years. Hopkins entered the boxing match as a
3–2In probability theory and statistics the odds in favor of an event or a proposition are the quantity , where p is the probability of the event or proposition. The odds against the same event are...
favorite to win. 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 decisionA Split Decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking in which two of the three judges score for the same fighter as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other...
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, winning the
World Boxing CouncilThe World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
(WBC),
World Boxing OrganizationThe World Boxing Organization is a sanctioning organization currently recognizing professional boxing world champions. Its offices are located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.-History:...
(WBO) and IBF middleweight titles, the WBA middleweight super title and
The RingThe Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...
magazine middleweight championship. Hopkins appealed the decision, but was denied by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
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. 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. 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 WrightRonald Lamont "Winky" Wright is an American boxer, the former undisputed light middleweight world champion and a current middleweight contender....
and
Sam SolimanSam Soliman is an Australian boxer of Coptic Egyptian descent. Soliman began his boxing career after studying multiple forms of martial arts, such as Tae Kwon Do, Karate, and Kick-Boxing.-Amateur Boxing Career:...
. 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.
Middleweight Champion
On June 17, 2006, Taylor fought Winky Wright at the FedEx Forum in
Memphis, TennesseeMemphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4
th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River....
. 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 StewardEmanuel Steward is a boxing trainer, commentator and inductee of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.-Biography:...
. 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. 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.
On December 9, 2006, Taylor fought
Kassim Ouma-Early life:Born into poverty, at the age of six he was kidnapped and forced to join the National Resistance Army and consequently did not see his family for five years. Ouma is the 7th of 13 children, which include 7 brothers and 5 sisters. Only 4 brothers are still alive.-Amateur career:Upon...
at the
Alltel ArenaVerizon Arena is an 18,000-seat multi-purpose arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas, directly across the Arkansas River from downtown Little Rock...
in
North Little Rock, ArkansasNorth Little Rock is a city in the central part of the U.S. state of Arkansas across the Arkansas River from Little Rock in Pulaski County. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 58,833 ranking it as the sixth most populous city in the state...
. Taylor hurt Ouma early in the first round and continued to control the fight through the middle part of the fight with jabs and
hooksA hook is a punch in boxing. It is performed by turning the core muscles and back, thereby swinging the arm, which is bent at an angle near or at 90 degrees, in a horizontal arc into the opponent...
. 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. Afterwards, the WBA announced that Taylor was no longer the holder of its middleweight super title. On May 19, 2007, Taylor went up against former undisputed welterweight champion
Cory SpinksCorey Spinks is a professional boxer. He's the son of former heavyweight champion of the world Leon Spinks. Cory was born five days after his dad defeated Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight world title in 1978. Cory is the nephew of former light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion Michael...
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
reachArm span or reach is the physical measurement of the length from one end of an individual's arms to the other when raised parallel to the ground at shoulder height at a one-hundred eighty degree angle...
, 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 decisionA Split Decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking in which two of the three judges score for the same fighter as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other...
with two judges scoring 117–111 and 115–113 in favor of him and the other scoring 117–111 for Spinks.
Fights with Pavlik
In his next bout, Taylor fought
Kelly PavlikKelly Pavlik is an American professional boxer. He is The Ring, WBC, and WBO middleweight champion, defeating Jermain Taylor to earn those titles...
on September 29, 2007, at
Boardwalk HallBoardwalk Hall, formally known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is an arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. It was Atlantic City's primary convention center until the opening of the Atlantic City Convention Center in 1997....
in
Atlantic City, New JerseyAtlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. Famous for its boardwalk, casino gambling, sandy beaches, shopping centers, view of the Atlantic Ocean, and as the inspiration for the board game Monopoly, Atlantic City is a resort community located on Absecon Island on the...
. Pavlik began rising in popularity after an
upsetAn upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win , is defeated by an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying the conventional wisdom. The underdog then becomes a giant-killer.- Examples of major upsets in politics...
victory over Edison Miranda in a middleweight title eliminator to determine the number one contender to fight Taylor. During their amateur careers, Taylor had defeated Pavlik on February 9, 2000 in the opening round of the United States Olympic trials. 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
crossIn boxing, a cross is a power-punch like the uppercut and hook. Compubox, a computerized punch scoring system, counts the cross as a power-punch....
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 lost in his professional career and the first time he had ever been knocked down. 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. 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.
Super middleweight
After the two losses to Pavlik, Taylor moved up to the super middleweight division. On November 15, 2008, Taylor defeated
Jeff LacyJeffrey Scott Lacy is an American boxer. He is a former International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion.-Amateur career:...
to earn a mandatory fight against the winner of a bout between
Carl FrochCarl Froch is an English professional boxer and is the current WBC Super Middleweight champion, since defeating Jean Pascal on points for the vacant title on 6 December 2008...
and
Jean PascalJean-Thenistor Pascal is a Haitian-Canadian professional boxer and the current WBC Light Heavyweight Champion.-Early life:...
for the vacant WBC super middleweight title, a fight that was won by Froch. On April 25, 2009, at the
Foxwoods Resort CasinoFoxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel-casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, United States. It is the largest casino in North America in terms of floor space for gaming, with . The entire resort comprises of space. The casino has over 380 gaming tables including blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker....
in
Ledyard, ConnecticutLedyard is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, located along the Thames River. The population was 14,687 at the 2000 census. The Foxwoods Resort Casino, owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Native American tribe, was located in the northeastern section of Ledyard,...
, 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.
Taylor is set to compete in the
Super Six World Boxing ClassicThe Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament is a boxing competition for the WBA and WBC super middleweight title, it's organized by Showtime in cooperation with Sauerland Event. The first matches took place on October 17 2009...
. A tournament by
ShowtimeShowtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States...
to find out who the best boxer at the Super-Middleweight division is. Taylor Faces
Arthur Abraham"King" Arthur Abraham is an Armenian professional boxer residing in Berlin, Germany. He has been undefeated as IBF Middleweight World champion.- Biography :...
in the first round October 17 to be shown on Primetime, Sky channel.
On October 17, 2009, in the O2 World Arena in Berlin Germany, Undefeated Armenian/German champion
Arthur Abraham"King" Arthur Abraham is an Armenian professional boxer residing in Berlin, Germany. He has been undefeated as IBF Middleweight World champion.- Biography :...
defeated Jermain Taylor by KO in the 12th round in his first fight at
Super MiddleweightSuper Middleweight is a boxing and Muay Thai weight division that has a weight limit of 168 pounds. There was interest in a division between middleweight and light heavyweight in the late 1960s, the mid-1970s, and the early 1980s...
.
Personal life
Taylor is married to former
Louisiana Tech UniversityLouisiana Tech University, located in Ruston, Louisiana is a coeducational public institution of higher learning with an enrollment of 10,950 students in the 08-09 year. Louisiana Tech was first instituted as the Industrial Institute and College of Louisiana in 1894, then as Louisiana Polytechnic...
basketball player Erica Taylor, who was selected in the second round of the
2005 WNBA DraftThe WNBA Draft is an annual draft held by the Women's National Basketball Association through which WNBA teams can select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players...
by the
Washington MysticsThe Washington Mystics is a Women's National Basketball Association team based in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. They started play in 1998, the second year of the WNBA and are one of the WNBA's first expansion franchises...
. Jermain and Erica Taylor have three daughters. Taylor gained 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 ArkansasThe University of Arkansas, often shortened to U of A or just UA, is a public co-educational land-grant research university. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Founded as Arkansas Industrial University in 1871, its present name...
RazorbacksThe Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the names of college sports teams at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The term Arkansas Razorbacks properly applies to any of the sports teams at the university. The Razorbacks take their name from the feral pig of the same...
and has visited the Arkansas campus to talk to the football team. Taylor oftens sports a large Razorback on the back of his boxing robe and trunks for his fights. He was named "Arkansan of the Year" for 2005 by the
Arkansas TimesArkansas Times, a weekly alternative newspaper based in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a publication that has circulated for more than 35 years, originally as a magazine. Its current format stems from reaction to the Arkansas Democrat buyout of assets from Gannett's closure of the Arkansas Gazette in...
. In 2007, Taylor was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame along with former
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
(NFL) players
Rod SmithRod, Rodney or Roderick Smith may refer to:* Rod Smith , American football wide receiver* Rod Smith , American football player* Rod Smith , State Senator from Florida...
and
Willie RoafWilliam Layton Roaf, sometimes nicknamed "Nasty" is a former American football offensive tackle.-Football career:...
. Taylor has modeled for
Everlast-About Everlast:The preeminent brand in boxing since 1910, Everlast is a global leader in the design, manufacturing, licensing and marketing of authentic boxing, mixed martial arts and fitness related sporting goods equipment, apparel, footwear, and accessories...
,
GQ and
VogueVogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine published in 16 countries + Latin America by Condé Nast Publications. Each month, Vogue publishes a magazine addressing topics of fashion, life and design.-Style and influence:...
.
See also
External links
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