It took less than 10 minutes for Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson to say the words every person who cares about Jermain Taylor wanted to hear.
Mental and physical evaluation.
Anyone who didn't want that doesn't truly care about the most famous and, at one time, most popular boxer in Arkansas history.
JT, as he became known, was the Great American Story. He went from a skinny teenager whose mom finally relented and gave permission for him to box when he was 13 to an Olympic bronze medalist, and then he became the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.
"The pride of Little Rock, Arkansas" resonated throughout the MGM hotel in Las Vegas the night he upset the seemingly unbeatable Bernard Hopkins and earned his first $1 million paycheck. Those purses went up fast as the undefeated champion, and safe estimates are that he may have earned north of $15 million during his career.
JT made more than one cafe worker giggle with a $200 tip.
He bought his family a big home, cars (including a Lamborghini), a motorcycle, and he had more four-wheelers than Sunrise Honda.
Vacations were first-class. Always.
Now the home is for sale, apparently his marriage is on the rocks and he's facing two sets of charges involving a gun.
Yes, he has to have some accountability, but perhaps the sport of boxing does, too.
Many close to him during his magic carpet ride asked him not to make a comeback, that he was doing better than most expected.
Those people looked at three previous fights, a total of less than two minutes, and prayed JT would stay retired.
Those fights, those seconds, may have taken a serious toll.
JT looked to have Kelly Pavlik finished in the second round of their 2007 fight in Atlantic City, but the guy survived. In the seventh round, Pavlik was getting stronger, JT wasn't, and with less than a minute to go in the seventh round, Pavlik landed six blows to the head that put JT on the canvas and the referee called the fight. Pavlik won the rematch by unanimous decision.
After a decent showing in a victory over Jeff Lacy, JT, who was now performing off Broadway, took on Carl Froch in Ledyard, Conn. JT was winning on two of three cards going into the final round, but Froch landed two rights to the head that stunned JT and then unloaded a barrage of punches that left JT clinging to the ropes and earned Froch a victory by TKO.
JT, who loved to display a Razorback on his robe and trunks, then traveled to Germany and appeared to be winning on points with 10 seconds left in the final round against Arthur Abraham, but that was when Abraham landed a crushing blow to the head that sent JT to the hospital with a severe concussion and bleeding from the brain.
JT sat out two years -- trouble-free years -- and then the Mayo Clinic cleared him, stating he had the same chance of getting hurt as any boxer, and boxing gave him back his license.
His comeback was going well, but trouble seemed to be his shadow. It came to a head when he reportedly fired a pistol during a recent Martin Luther King Day parade in Little Rock and allegedly threatened to kill a man. Then that night he made some weird videos while waiting to turn himself into police after his bond had been revoked for a previous incident during which he allegedly shot his cousin.
That's not the JT his fans loved and admired.
Concussions and dementia have long been serious concerns in the world of boxing.
Now, thanks to the judicial system, everyone will know that if JT isn't fit to stand trial, then he sure isn't fit to fight again and probably should never have been licensed again.
Sports on 01/28/2015