JERMAIN TAYLOR
PROFILE AND BIO

On July 16, 2005, 2000 US Olympic Bronze Medallist, Jermain Taylor, earned his first world championship with a hard-fought decision win over future hall-of-famer, Bernard Hopkins. Boxing has a new star, one who encapsulates all the values we like to see in our sports heroes - class, hard work, enthusiasm, accessibility, and talent.

It was a bout that captured the imagination of the sporting public, and catapulted Taylor into a seemingly endless stream of media appearances and celebrations. On August 2, 2005, Taylor's promoter, Lou DiBella, took the recently crowned champion to former President Bill Clinton's Harlem office. During the meeting, Clinton praised Taylor for his recent achievement and boxers in general for the sacrifices they make in pursuit of their dreams. Taylor, presented the former President with a replica of the robe he wore into the ring prior to the Hopkins fight in July.

"It was amazing," said Taylor of meeting Clinton. "I always wanted to meet him; it was an honor."

But even though Taylor is the toast of the sports world after his stirring victory over Hopkins, his road to glory wasn't paved with gold.

Taylor and his three younger sisters were abandoned by his father when he was five years old. "When I look at where I come from, if it was a picture that I could show you, it would almost bring you to tears to see how poor we were," said Taylor.

Christmas time was even tougher than usual to deal with. "Christmases were hard," said Taylor. "There were a couple of times when I didn't have Christmas."

There was a lot of love in the house though, and the family persevered through the rocky times. An in a way, Taylor's speedy maturation process would come in handy when he began competing in the world's hardest game.

Admirably, Taylor refuses to talk negatively about the father than left him and his family. "Even though there are a lot of things in my head that go against my father, in my heart I still love him to death, and every time I see him, my heart still jumps," said Taylor. "It jumps up and down just to know he's my father."

But if there is a silver lining in the clouds of Taylor's childhood, it's he is determined not to repeat the mistakes of his own father. "Its changed me so much because I know you have to spend time with a child," said Taylor. "If not, the child will still love you, but he won't know you. I know my dad, but I don't know him. I don't know what he's like; I don't know his mean face. I want my kids to know me, to know what I like, and what I don't like - to know my facial expressions. At the same way for them. I want to know the way they look when they're made, when they're sleepy. Little things like that are part of being a dad."

The boxing bug bit Taylor at age 13 and even though he took a severe beating the first time he stepped through the ropes, he trudged back to the gym, eager to learn and compete.

Enter Ozell Nelson. "If it weren't for him, there's no telling where I would have been," said Taylor of Nelson who not only handles training duties for Jermain with Pat Burns, but who has also been a surrogate father to him. "Him and his wife took me in. I used to go over to their house and eat, sleep, and do everything, just like I was a part of the family - and they had kids of their own. Now that I look back on it, it must have been hard because he wasn't rich. But he still tried to bring me in and love me like I was one of his sons. A kid, and especially a young man, needs to have somebody who he can look up to, because if he doesn't, he's going to look to the streets. It's easier to pick up a bad habit than a good habit. Coach taught me how to work. He taught me that your word is the only thing a person can have. And if you mess your word up, you're worth nothing. He taught me that if you put in 100%, it will definitely come out 110%. And I believe that."

With a strong support system in place, a Spartan work ethic, and substantial talent, Taylor garnered strong notices on the Arkansas amateur circuit as he and Nelson traveled around. But, in the politically charged atmosphere of amateur boxing, Taylor was ignored until he started making some noise with his fists nationally.

Taylor was determined to get top the Olympics. To get there, he piled up victory after victory during his amateur career. He brought home a Bronze medal for his efforts at the 2000 US Olympic games, and the quietly charismatic young man with loud fists was the center of much attention from promoters, until he signed with DiBella Entertainment after the Sydney Games. "Lou was my only choice to represent me as a professional," said Taylor. "He was honest and straightforward with me and he knows the game. Most importantly, I trust him."

Jermain's professional career kicked off in January 2001 as a part of DiBella Entertainment's "Night of the Olympians". Facing a very experience fighter in veteran, Chris Walsh, he showed poise beyond his years, winning via TKO. Taylor put on an impressive display of power, knocking the more experienced Walsh down twice before the bout was halted in the 4th round.

Despite a string of impressive wins over subsequent months, Taylor was seemingly ignored by many in the press, who lavished praise on other members of the Class of 2000. But with each successive month, some of Taylor's peers began to fall behind, either beaten in the ring or taken down by their reliance on their press clippings.

Jermain Taylor made his move. "I felt like if I kept working hard and kept my head on straight, there's no telling how far I could go," said Taylor who truly arrived after a 5th round stoppage of Marco Primera in March 2003.

Suddenly the boxing world embraced Taylor, and was unable to ignore his jackhammer jab, concussive left hook, and veteran's poise between the ropes. Yet none of the acclaim, which includes modeling for Everlast, Vogue, and GQ, and receiving the 2003 Most Improved Fighter award from The Ring Magazine, affected Taylor. You won't see him walking the streets with an entourage.

It's a maturity Taylor owes to his Arkansas roots. "That's the thing about Arkansas," he said. "It's so small that you don't have to have an entourage or anything like that. I don't really need it. A person's friends have a lot to do with how people act. If a person has good friends, that's going to help them out a lot because they don't have to do all this stupid stuff and deal with peer pressure. I don't have to worry about that."

Taylor hopes this attitude will rub off on America's youth, who are sorely in need of positive role models. "I'm hoping that I can be a role model for the kids," he said. "Not the earrings, the long hair, the sagging pants and big clothes. I think kids need a new role model."

In 2004, Taylor gave boxing fans a new star, when he faced Alex Bunema in March, ten weeks after scoring a violent first round KO of southpaw, Alex Rios in January. Taylor's jab pumped like a piston all night, confusing and frustrating his game opponent. He followed his jab with crushing right hands and by the middle rounds, Taylor sensed the feisty Bunema was wearing down. A left-right combination put Bunema down on the canvas for the first time in the 7th round. Bunema beat the count but didn't last much longer as Taylor pummeled him against the ropes. With Bunema slumped down on a knee, the referee ended the onslaught. Taylor improved to 20-0 and earned his 15th KO. Including that stoppage, Jermain registered KO victories in eight of his last nine bouts, facing stiffer competition every time.

Squaring off against former World Champion, Raul Marquez in June 2004, Taylor dominated his more experienced opponent throughout the contest. As the fight progressed, Taylor had an answer for everything the cagey veteran threw his way and knocked Marquez down in the 9th. He scored a TKO triumph when, between the 9th and 10th rounds, Marquez's corner, after seeing him absorb too much punishment, decided he shouldn't continue.

In December 2004, Taylor took on former three-time World Middleweight Champion, William Joppy. In the opening minutes of the fight, both fighters exchanged stiff jabs, body shots and combinations. From a crushing right uppercut on the chin in the first round, followed by a punishing left hook to the face in the 2nd round and finally a knockdown of Joppy in the 5th round, it was clear that Taylor would dominate the fight against the seasoned veteran. Taylor scored a unanimous decision to retain his WBC Continental America's Title. This impressive triumph established Jermain a the force to be reckoned with in the middleweight division.

In February 2005, Taylor proved worth of the title of "heir apparent to Bernard Hopkins" with a devastating TKO victory over previously unbeaten Daniel Edouard. In a bout many expected to be Taylor's toughest test to date, Jermain dominated from the start, connecting on over half of his punches thrown, dictating the fight and using his jab and power shots to overwhelm Edouard. As Taylor was connecting on a barrage of unreturned bombs, the referee stopped the fight in round three.

Even though Taylor has dominated these high-profile opponents, he refuses to get over-confident, and before every fight he leaves the comfortable surroundings of home to train with Pat Burns in Miami. "There are no easy wins in the sport of boxing because everybody wants to be champion," said Taylor. "And I think that in order to train a person needs to be away from his surroundings to take his mind off everything."

Throughout the peaks and valleys of a life that was difficult to deal with at times, Jermain Taylor has excelled and is truly happy now. "I'm happy the way my life turned out," said Taylor. "I'm happy with the people I signed with. I was not rushed. I was not babied. And I'm right on schedule. There is no downside to this. I love it all."

The only thing missing was a world championship and in July, Taylor took care of that matter of business, as he put all four world title belts around his waist. Now comes the difficult battle of defending that undisputed championship against all corners. Jermain is up to the task, which begins with a December 3rd rematch with the man he won the crown from - Bernard Hopkins.

"I plan on going in there, taking care of business, and being a lot more aggressive," said Taylor. I'll be smarter with my punches, and I just feel that it's my time now."