Jermain Taylor: Whoever Has a Belt is Who I Want!
Oct 13, 2012 • 1:05 AM ET
By Jake Donovan
Former middleweight king Jermain Taylor continued his comeback with a second round knockout win over Raul Munoz in a stay-busy fight Friday evening in St. Charles, Missouri. The bout aired in highlights on the evening’s edition of Showtime’s Shobox: The New Generation.
Taylor (31-4-1, 19KO) looked at his best since returning to the ring last December. The 34-year old scored three knockdowns in the brief affair, but none better than the picture-perfect one-two combination to put Munoz down and out in round two.
Looking beyond the dumbed-down competition, Taylor looked refreshed and relaxed. The scene was a far cry from when he suffered a shocking knockdown in a unanimous decision over Caleb Truax. Taylor was delusional in his post-fight interview, but had a much clearer frame of mind after Friday’s affair.
“It’s all about the training camp,” Taylor told to Showtime’s Steve Farhood after posting his third straight win. “I'm in training camp for six weeks. It keeps me on my toes.”
It’s been three years since Taylor has faced a live body, which didn’t end well at all as Arthur Abraham knocked him unconscious in the closing seconds of their Oct. ’09 bout. The fight kicked off Showtime’s much ballyhooed Super Six World Boxing Classic round robin tournament, but at the time appeared to serve as the end of Taylor’s career.
Now three years later, the 2000 Olympic bronze medalist and former world champ believes he is ready to re-enter the title fray.
“I'm ready to fight. 2013 is my year. We trying to go through it,” Taylor said of his proposed plan for the next calendar year.
When asked of specific competition level, Taylor refused to narrow it down. Instead, the pride of Little Rock invites the best in the world to come get some.
“I've always been the type fighter to never back down. I fought the best back-to-back-to-back. These fights right here are comeback fights. Whoever has a belt is who I want. I'm not discriminating.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home.
