By Jim Dower: Former IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor was arrested on Tuesday and charged with allegedly shooting his cousin in Pulaski County in Arkansas. Taylor’s cousin is said to be in serious condition.
The shooting occurred at Taylor’s home in Pulaski County. He’s being charged with first-degree battery, as well as aggravated assault. The shooting took place at approximately 6:00 p.m.
According to Arkansas online, Taylor got into an altercation with his cousin. The name of Taylor’s cousin is unknown at this point.
Taylor was taken to the Pulaski County Jail. He’s currently being held without bail. He’ll be attending court tomorrow morning on Wednesday.
Taylor is scheduled to challenge IBF middleweight champion Sam Soliman on October 8th at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, Biloxi, Mississippi, USA. This was a fight that is considered a 50-50 affair.
If Taylor wins, it could lead to bigger fights and bigger paydays. This was Taylor’s chance to reignite his stalled career. How today’s shooting will affect his fight against Soliman is unclear at this time. It’s still too early to know, as the police still are collecting facts from the case and finding out what actually took place.
Taylor defeated a prime Bernard Hopkins by a 12 round split decision in July 2005 to capture his IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO middleweight titles. Five months later, Taylor defeated Hopkins a second time in winning a 12 round unanimous decision in December 2005. Taylor defended his titles 3 times before losing them to Kelly Pavlik by a 7th round TKO in September 2007.
Taylor fought Pavlik in a rematch in February 2008, and lost by a 12 round unanimous decision. From there, Taylor’s once promising career came unraveled with him getting knocked out in consecutive bouts in 2009 to Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham. Taylor took two years off from boxing following the Abraham fight before coming back in 2011 in beating Jessie Nicklow by an 8th round knockout. Since that fight, Taylor has won three additional bouts. Taylor hasn’t fought since last December when he stopped Juan Carlos Candelo in the 7th.
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