Boxing’s Greats of the States | Arkansas: Jermain Taylor

Boxers come from every corner of the globe. Sometimes, fighters are products of their environment, favoring styles prevalent in the country or state from which they hail. Various regions of the United States are considered factories for great fighters, though that certainly is not the case with each state. In this weekly Sherdog.com series, the spotlight will shine on the best boxer of all-time from each of the 50 states. Fighters do not necessarily need to be born in a given state to represent it; they simply need to be associated with it. For example, all-time great heavyweight legend Joe Louis was born in Alabama, but he is identified almost universally with Detroit.

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When one ponders the boxing history of Arkansas, one fighter springs to mind: Jermain Taylor. The pride of Little Rock, Taylor became one of the best fighters of his generation, achieving greatness across a few memorable years.

After becoming the first boxer ever from Arkansas to earn a spot on the United States Olympic team, he captured a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. With a ton of hype surrounding him and several of his Olympic teammates, “Bad Intentions” quickly ascended the ranks in the middleweight division. Taylor’s skill and hard work paid off four years after he turned pro when he edged all-time great Bernard Hopkins over 12 rounds in Las Vegas to capture the undisputed middleweight crown on July 16, 2005; it made him the second fighter in history to simultaneously possess the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF titles at 160 pounds.

After besting “The Executioner” in a close rematch five months later, Taylor defended his crown three more times before eventually being knocked out in the seventh round of his September 2007 encounter with Kelly Pavlik. Taylor lost to Pavlik in their immediate rematch, but after he took a decision from Jeff Lacy over 12 rounds, he lost back-to-back bouts to Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham. He lost to Froch via 12th-round TKO in a bout for the WBC super middleweight title.

Taylor took a few years off to recover from injuries. In his return to action, he rattled off five straight wins, including a unanimous 12-round decision over Sam Soliman in April 2014 that allowed him to reclaim the IBF middleweight title nine years after he first won it. Taylor was eventually stripped of the title for not being able to defend it, and he has run into legal troubles outside the ring since dethroning Soliman. The 37-year-old holds a career record of 33-4-1 with 20 KOs.

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