Jermain Taylor comeback fight poss. for December on Showtime

No concrete info yet but about a dozen paragraphs in, a source speculates about his next fight and says more will be released within a few weeks. Taylor’s return cleared in Vegas By Matthew Harris, Arkansas Democrat Gazette Thursday, October 6, 2011 LITTLE ROCK — After plans for a return fell through in July, former middleweight world champion Jermain Taylor is taking steps toward a comeback bout in early December after a two-year layoff. On Sept. 28, the Nevada State Athletic Commission approved Taylor’s application for a boxing license. The Little Rock native is working out with former trainer Pat Burns and forging a reunion with longtime promoter Lou DiBella. Taylor’s application, which was filed Sept. 14, was approved by a 5-0 vote after Taylor (28-4-1, 17 knockouts) testified for an hour before the commission about a return to the ring two years after a knockout loss to Arthur Abraham left him with bleeding on his brain, Keith Kizer, the executive director of the commission, said Wednesday. “We’re at a stage now where modern medicine is a brilliant thing,” Kizer said. “And it’s great that athletes like Jermain can receive a second chance because of the testing and treatment he’s received.” Taylor did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday. Under Nevada boxing regulations, any boxer who has suffered a severe brain injury must have his application approved by the full commission. In addition, Taylor, 33, had to submit medical records for review by the commission’s four-member medical advisory panel, which also asked in early August that Taylor undergo a magnetic resonance imaging at the Cleveland Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. After suffering a severe concussion against Abraham, Taylor received clinical assessments from Little Rock neurosurgeon Dr. Scott Schlesinger in early 2010 and a second consultation with the Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic last spring. “I’m concerned any time a fighter that’s suffered a cerebral hemorrhage wants to come back to fighting,” Kizer said. “That’s someone who needs to have their request looked at very hard, even someone who’s had as stellar a career as Mr. Taylor.” Looking over the results of those tests, the panel, along with Timothy J. Trainor, the commission’s consulting research physician, gave its unanimous consent to clear Taylor to fight after an hourlong hearing on Sept. 22. “There’s a much more complex process than there might have been five years ago, or maybe a year ago,” Kizer said. Sources with knowledge of Taylor’s return said a fight would not necessarily take place in Nevada and would potentially be broadcast in early December by Showtime, which scheduled three fights with Taylor in the Super Six World Classic super middleweight tournament two years ago. “You can conjecture that it would probably be a venture with Showtime,” a source with knowledge of a potential fight said. “I don’t think they have to, but they would probably be inclined to.” Taylor and manager Al Haymon’s reasoning in reaching out to the Nevada State Athletic Commission likely is that gaining approval under the commission’s standard, considered the nation’s most stringent, will make other states more likely to clear Taylor. If so, the chances are improved the fighter could box in a match close to home at sites such as Tunica, Miss., Memphis or Little Rock, the source said. While Taylor does not have a formal opponent or date set, there are movements behind the scenes to make a bout happen in the middleweight division, where he would fight at roughly 160 pounds instead of 168, where he fought most recently in the super-middleweight class. “More information on Jermain will be forthcoming in the next few weeks,” a second source said. A source close to Showtime confirmed a fight could be shown on the network in December. “We would be interested,” the source said. “I think we would do it if he’s cleared medically. We’re excited about it quite honestly, if he’s back to full health, and it sounds like he is now.” Any return by Taylor has been shrouded two years after a failed move up to the super middleweight division, where he lost four of five fights and was knocked out late in the 12th round of the final two against Abraham and Carl Froch. In October 2009, Abraham, a former middleweight champion, knocked out Taylor in Berlin with a vicious right jab that sent Taylor to the floor where his head struck hard on the canvas. Though Taylor was able to conduct post-fight interviews, DiBella, his promoter at the time, was concerned about the boxer’s memory lapses and had him taken to a Berlin hospital for an overnight stay. Two months later, DiBella parted ways with Taylor, a move he said stemmed from health concerns over longterm brain damage if Taylor returned to the ring in April 2010. Taylor then backed out of a planned Super Six bout, prompting speculation about his retirement. While Taylor never formally retired, his absence has been lengthy, and his nucleus of support has fallen apart. After DiBella’s departure, he parted ways with trainer Ozell Nelson, who took over after Burns was fired in May 2006, and business manager Andrew Meadors relinquished his role in March. But reports in late June, namely statement’s by Burns to ESPN, indicated that Taylor was aiming for a comeback bout in Little Rock on Aug. 13, 2011, a possibility that died out quickly. He never filed for a license with the Arkansas State Athletic Commission. Showtime, which reportedly planned to broadcast his return bout during the summer, also wanted Taylor to be certified by a boxing commission with more stringent standards than those in Arkansas, which only require a prefight physical and the verification of any fight record by an applicant. Meanwhile, threetime junior middleweight champion Jose Antonio Rivera, 38, rebuffed a proposal in early July to fight Taylor as part of his own return from a 21/2 year layoff. Burns’ comments to the press strained ties between the trainer, Taylor and Haymon, a source with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday. There were also squabbles over whether Taylor’s training camp would be based in Burns’ hometown of Miami or in Little Rock. On top of that, there was a dispute over compensation for Burns, who helped lead Taylor to a 25-0 record and his 2007 middleweight title victory against Bernard Hopkins. “Things just got better over a couple months,” the source said. “Jermain realized how much he needed Pat, and he was giving him a hard time about how much money he was going to pay him.” Taylor, who has slimmed down from 197 pounds to 160 pounds in recent months, told the Nevada commission he had teamed up with Burns while admitting that he entered camp overweight before his most-recent fights. “He mentioned that he would show up at camp around 200 pounds, and it was basically a weight loss camp,” Kizer said. “That’s what he blamed on fading in some of the fights he lost.”