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Jermain Taylor Signed
Boxing Glove
Great Everlast Boxing Glove signed by Jermain
Taylor!
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.
Jermain Taylor
£75.00
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."
Meet the new boss.
