Bernard Hopkins vs. Jermain Taylor; Round by Round Coverage

By Rick Reeno

Later tonight, unified middleweight champion Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins, puts all of his titles on the line against undefeated prospect Jermain Taylor. Taylor has been groomed as the middleweight heir apparent by his promoters and cable network HBO, but he must defeat the the number one rated pound for pound fighter in the world in order to claim the throne. It won't be an easy task to defeat Hopkins, a fighter that has not tasted defeat since 1993. The top fighters of Hopkin's era have all been knocked off, Hopkins is the last man standing. Future hall of fame fighters like Oscar De La Hoya, Lennox Lewis, Felix Trinidad, Roy Jones, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, and Kostya Tszyu have either retired or recently tasted defeat. Hopkins on the other hand is a 40 year old fighter on top of the world, but age is quickly catching up to him.

Jermain Taylor is bigger, younger, stronger faster and more importantly undefeated. Although Taylor is an undefeated fighter, he has never been tested as a professional. Taylor's biggest win was over William Joppy, who came out of retirement to take the fight. Many of Taylor's opponents have either been blown up junior middleweights or over-classed competition. Many experts feel that Taylor is not ready for a fight of this magnitude. Taylor was forced to take the fight sooner then later since Hopkins is either one loss or two wins away from retirement. Hopkins on the other hand is the most experienced and craftiest boxer in the game.

Round by Round Coverage has begun. There will be four fights on the pay per view. The main event of Hopkins vs. Taylor will go foward around 11pm EST.

Vernon Forrest, back after being on the shelf for almost 2 years, will take on vs. Sergio Rios in a 154 pound bout to kick off the show.

Undercard results by Andy Rivera, live at ringside in Las Vegas.

In the opening bout of the night Jonathan Oquendo remained unbeaten, as he stopped Timothy Carrizales early in the second round. It took Oquendo, hailing from Vaga Alta, Puerto Rico, one shot to end his night's work.

Oquendo was able to land quick right hands to the head of Carrizales to dominate most of the round. Carrizales did very little to keep Oquendo off him, as Oquendo clearly was setting up to what would occur in the next stanza.

Oquendo landed a hard right to the body of Carrizales in the first: 20 of the round, putting Carrizales down to one knee, where he was able to get up at the count of six, but as referee Joe Cortez looked at Carrizales' condition, Cortez ruled he was unable to continue. Carrizales offered no protest to the stoppage. With the win Oquendo raises his record to 5-0, 3 ko’s, while Carrizales fell to 4-5-1.

Nineteen year-old Abner Mares looked impressive with a third round stoppage over veteran Elvis Martinez in the third round in a jr. featherweight bout.

Mares looked poised for a fighter with only three pro fights, as he patiently took Martinez apart in round one. mares went to the head and body of Martinez, snapping Martinez's head back several times in the final thirty seconds of the round. To Martinez's credit, he did manage to land a right hand as the bell sounded.

Martinez tried to confuse Mares in round two by switching to his left, but that backfired as Mares was able to land hard straight hands to Martinez's head.

The end came in the third, as Mares landed a hard right hand to the head of Martinez sending him reeling to the ropes, where Mares was able to go to the body and ended things with a three punch combination that prompted referee Kenny Bayless to stop the fight at 2:44.

Mares upped his record to 4-0, 3 ko’s, while Martinez fell to 10-11-2.

Vicente Escobedo made short work of Edgar Vargas, putting him down three times in the first round; all knockdowns were right hands to the head. Vargas had a 9-1 record entering the bout and was supposed to give Escobedo some experience, but Escobedo was the one who gave the lesson.

Escobedo kept his knockout streak going at 5, in raising his record to 5-0, Vargas fell to 9-2.

Result of the Forrest bout will be posted upon the bout's ending.

Forrest came back with a bang. Forrest busted up Rios with power shots in the first round. Rios went down in the second round from a left-right combination. He beat the count, Forrest went back on the attack to close the show and landed another two punch combination that put Rios down for good. Rios was not able to get back up and the ref stopped the fight. Forrest picks up a second round KO win.

Fernando Montiel will defend his WBO super flyweight title against Evert Briceno in the next contest. The result will be posted once the fight has ended.

Briceno thrown into the fight after Eric Morel was disqualified by the Nevadad commission after pleading guilty to sexually assualting a minor. Briceno fought only 15 days ago.

Jermain Taylor was just shown entering the arena, he looks very calm.

HBO said the arena will be Taylor country, over 4,000 fans from Arkansas are expected to be in the house tonight for the event.

So far Montiel-Briceno is not an exciting fight. Montiel is countering him round after round. Four rounds are in the book and Montiel has easily won them all.

Bernard Hopkins has just arrived in the arena and looks very game. Hopkins appears to be in the "zone".

HBO just said that Hopkins-Taylor is booked for both fighters to enter the ring at 11PM EST.

Jay Nady is giving Jermain Taylor the pre-fight instructions backstage. The Taylor camp is complaining that Hopkins is a dirty fighter and will try and fight Jermain very dirty tonight. Nady said that he will make sure that both fighters keep it clean.

Shane Mosley, Marco Antonio Barrera and Oscar De La Hoy are all sitting next to eachother at ringside. All three fighters will obviously voice their support for Bernard Hopkins.

Hopkins is being interviewed by Larry Merchant in the back. Hopkins said that he respects Taylor a lot. He said that he will show tonight that he can fight every minute of every round and show the world that he, at 40 years old, will still beat 26 year old Taylor.

Montiel-Briceno is in the 10th round. Montiel is easily winning the fight, HBO has him winning almost every round.

Montiel retains his title with a 12 round decision over Briceno. Briceno came on very strong at the end of the bout, but fell short as Monteil won too many rounds early on.

We still have the rematch between Oscar Larios vs. Wayne McCullough, no way the Hopkins-Taylor fight starts at 11PM EST, right now it's 10:22 and Larios-McCullough have not entered the ring. HBO is going over the fued between Taylor promoter Lou DiBella and Bernard Hopkins.

Bernard Hopkins told Taylor that he will him commit suicide like his brother. A huge amount of heat will go into this main event.

Wayne McCullough and WBC 122 pound champion Oscar Larios are both in the ring. 12 round bantamweight contest. Result of the bout will be posted upon the end result. Their initial meeting was a war, this bout may be another war.

Quick update, both men are fighting at a furious pace in the first round, Larios already had a cut over his left eyelid.

A clash of heads in the third round has opened up a cut over the right eye of Larios. McCullough is really pouring it on and busting Larios up. This fight is an all out war right now.

Both men have thrown almost 1,000 punches in 4 rounds.

58-56 for Larios by HBO, after 6 rounds. We are in the 7th round and Larios is taking over the fight right now.

88-83 after 9 rounds. McCullough is taking a bad beating right now. He could end up being stopped for the first time in his career. Even the McCullough and the ref are threatening to stop the fight if he keeps getting hit real bad.

The McCullough corner and the ring doctor have stopped the fight. McCullough was getting hit way too much. Wayne is very upset and Larios picks up a big TKO victory. Both men threw over 230o punches in the fight.

One more fight is left, the main event. It should start within 20 minutes, around 11:35 EST.

Taylor is 171 pounds tonight, Hopkins is 168 pounds tonight.

Taylor is coming to the ring to Phil Collin's "In the air tonight". Crowd goes nuts for Taylor. Hopkins is making his way down to the ring, mix of boos and cheers for Hopkins.

Michael Buffer says LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE. Judges are Duane Ford, Jerry Roth and Paul Smith. Ref is Jay Nady.

Round 1 - Hopkins runs across the ring, halts and paws with the jab. Straight right by Taylor. Combo by Taylor as Hopkins came in. Two jabs by Taylor. Hopkins ties him up. Taylor jabbing and misses a right. They trade at the bell. First round goes to Taylor.

Round 2 - HBO gave Taylor the last round. Hopkins only threw 12 punches in the last round. Taylor pulls Hopkins down, ref breaks them apart. Taylor just rocked Hopkins big with a right hand and Hopkins flew across the ring and into the ropes. Crowd is on their feet, huge bodyshot by Taylor. Crowd is going berzerk and cheering for Taylor. Left hook by Taylor and a bodyshot. Big jab by Taylor right now. Right hand by Hopkins. They tie up and Hopkins landing inside shots. Taylor misses a left, Hopkins lands a right. Big round for Taylor.

Round 3 - HBO gave Taylor the last round. They tie in and Hopkins lands a few shots while holding Taylor. Ref warns Hopkins. Bodyhshot by Taylor, misses the right and lands two big jabs. Crowd is wild for anything Taylor lands. They trade jabs. Right hand lead by Hopkins. Good left hook by Hopkins. Taylor attacks Hopkins and lands a left-right combination. Another round for Taylor.

Round 4 - HBO gave Taylor the last round. Taylor misses a right, Hopkins ties him and lands shots on the inside. Good left hook by Taylor backs Hopkins up. They tie in and exchange shots. Hopkins misses a right. Taylor jabbing Hopkins back. The two men are jabbing and Taylor is winning. Taylor misses an uppercut. Combo pushes Hopkins back, Hopkins counters with a left hook. They tie up and Hopkins landing on the inside. Taylor attacks with a flurry, Hopkins ties him up and they exchange at the bell. Another round for Taylor.

Round 5 - Hopkins comes out jabbing. HBO gave Taylor the last round. Very defensive by both men right now. Big left hook by Hopkins. There was a clash of heads and there is a cut on the forehead of Taylor. Blood is streaming on Taylor's face. Taylor attacks Hopkins and Bernard ties him up. Nady breaks them, Bernard lands a hook. Two big right hands by Hopkins. Hopkins clows around and comes in landing on Taylor. Right hand by Hopkins. Bodyshot by Taylor, left by Taylor. Misses the right, Hopkins shuffles the shoulders. Taylro rushes him and the two men are exchanging big shots. Great round. Hopkins wins his first.

Round 6 - HBO gave Hopkins the last round. Huge Taylor chant starts as bothe men circle around. Takor is jabbing away. Blood flowing from Taylor's cut. Both men miss left hands. Taylor goes to the body. Taylor combos on Bernard against the ropes. Hopkins lands a right hand. Left lands for Taylor, right lands for Hopkins. Taylor goes to the body. Another round for Taylor.

Round 7 - HBO gives the last round to Taylor. Hopkins is throwing only 18 punches per round. Both men missing big shots. Big right hand counter for Hopkins, Taylor misses the counter. The tie up, ref breaks them. Hopkins hitting Taylor while holding, ref warns Hopkins and breaks them up. Both men jabbing at the bell. Another round for Taylor.

Round 8 - HBO gave the last round to Taylor. Taylor rushes in and misses a few punches, Taylor rushes in and misses some more punches. Taylor misses an uppercut. Taylor comes in with the jab and misses a right hand. The two men start to exchange a few punches. Now they start jabbing. Big left hook by Hopkins back Taylor up. They exchange jabs. Hopkins rushes in, hodls an hits Taylor. Ref warns Hopkins that points will be taken away soon. Another round for Taylor.

Round 9 - HBO gave the last round to Taylor. Big right hand by Hopkins. Big bodyshots by Taylor and Taylor goes to the head. Taylor moves away before Hopkins can counter. The two men jab. Jab snaps the head of Hopkins back. They tie up and Nady breaks them. They tie up and Hopkins landing some inside shots. Jab by Hopkins, they tie up and ref breaks them again. They tie up once again and exchange a few shots. Right hand counter by Hopkins, Taylor misses a left and Hopkins with two more right hands. Hopkins I feel stole the round at the end.

Round 10 - Bot men are jabbing. HBO gave Hopkins the last round. They jab and tie up, Hopkins lands a right and Taylor lands a left. They are fighting on the inside. Now they begin to trade some big shots as the crowd is on their feet. Taylor slips down from a missed right hand. Huge right hand rocks Taylro bad and he is holding onto Hopkins. Ref breaks them and Hopkins lands another nig right hand and another. Taylor with a left, Hopkins with two big right hands. Huge round for Hopkins.

Round 11 - HBO gave Hopkins the last round. Taylor misses a right. Hopkins with a right over the top. Taylor lands a left hook. Big combo by Hopkins. Let-right combo by Hopkins. Hopkins with a three punch combo and he mimics the Taylor shuffle. Taylor with a combo. Left by Taylor. Taylor's left eye is swelling. Huge 5 punch combo blasts Taylor into the ropes, Taylor misses his counters. Huge round for Hopkins again. Hopkins needs a KO to win on my card and on HBO's card.

Round 12 - Hopkins is coming in looking for the KO, Taylor fights him off. Huge right by Taylor. Hopkins missing his counters. Huge right by Hopkins. Huge combo by Hopkins. Big right by Taylor, Hopkins with a right. Another right by Hopkins. Hopkins now jabbing. Three big right hands wobble Taylor. They exchange at the bell. Hopkins wins the final round. I have Taylor winning the fight, 115-113, HBO has the same score.

Official scores are coming up.

Split decision, Roth = 116-112 for Hopkins, 115-113 for Taylor, Smith = 115-113 and NEW UNDISPUTED MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD JERMAIN TAYLOR!!!!!!!!!!!!