Taylor holds on to titles in split decision

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Photo by Stephen B. Thornton

Jermain Taylor and Cory Spinks in the title bout at FedEx Forum in Memphis on Saturday night.

ADVERSTISMENT

A split decision went in Jermain Taylor's favor Saturday night at the FedEx Forum, allowing him to retain the WBC and WBO middleweight titles.

Taylor had winning scores of 117-111 and 115-113 from two of the judges, and the third had it 117-111 for Spinks.

Spinks and Taylor spent most of the early going sizing up each other. Spinks is 2 1/2 inches shorter than the 6-foot Taylor, but he did a good job staying out of the champion's reach.

The two combined to throw 211 punches in the first three rounds and drew scattered boos from the crowd. By contrast, Kelly Pavlik and Edison Miranda combined for 191 punches in the first round of the last undercard bout.

Taylor came alive a bit during the middle rounds, and knocked Spinks off balance with a left hand to the head in the seventh - but Taylor (27-0-1) hasn't knocked anyone down during his nearly two-year reign atop the middleweight division.

Spinks, the IBF junior middleweight champion, moved up to fight for Taylor's middleweight title. Spinks (36-4) was Taylor's second straight opponent from a lower weight class. Taylor beat Kassim Ouma - also from the junior middleweight ranks - in December.

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Taylor outpointed Bernard Hopkins in July 2005 to become middleweight champion. He beat Hopkins in a second decision later that year, then escaped with a draw against Winky Wright in Memphis in 2006. Taylor then beat Ouma in another decision.

"I don't know what to say. It was highway robbery," Spinks said. "I thought I gave a great boxing display. I feel great. I executed my game plan. I think I won."

Two of the judges disagreed, though. Neither fighter landed many memorable punches, but Spinks in particular struggled to connect. He threw 542 punches, but landed only 85.

Taylor, on the other hand, threw only 319 punches, landing 101.

Information for this article was contributed by Noah Trister of The Associated Press.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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