LITTLE ROCK — A year that started with a bang ended with a fizzle and a lot more questions than answers for Little Rock’s Jermain Taylor.
At the beginning of 2009, the former undisputed middleweight champion of the world was coming off a unanimous decision over former training partner Jeff Lacy on Nov. 15, 2008, in Nashville, Tenn. Taylor followed his first victory in threefights with an announcement that he would face Carl Froch in a WBC super middleweight title fight April 25, 2009.
It hasn’t worked out well.
Taylor was ahead on the card when he was knocked out by Froch with just 14 seconds left in the 12th round at Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Conn.
Arthur Abraham was well ahead on points when he caught Taylor with a straight right with six seconds left in their 12-round, nontitle fight at O2 Arena in Berlin on Oct. 17.
There is also a heavy swarm of speculation that Taylor might be considering retirement or pulling out of the Super Six World Boxing Classic after the devastating knockout by Abraham sent Taylor to the hospital because of a severe concussion and shortterm memory loss.
Taylor’s insistence that he hopes to fight WBA super middleweight title holder Andre Ward in the second round of the Super Six led Lou DiBella to drop Taylor after nearly nine years as his promoter.
If Taylor fights Ward, the fight is scheduled for April 17, likely either in Oakland, Calif., or Las Vegas. Ward won the WBA super middleweight title from Mikkel Kessler in Oakland on Nov. 11 when the fight was stopped in the 11th round and sent to the scorecards because of a cut over Kessler’s right eye.
Sports, Pages 33 on 12/27/2009