Jermain Taylor

Jermain Taylor is an American former boxer who became the undisputed middleweight champion by defeating Bernard Hopkins in 2005.

Lecester Jermain Taylor was born on 11 August 1978 in Little Rock, Arkansas, and was raised primarily by his mother, Carlois, after his father abandoned the family when Jermain was five, leaving her to work long hours while he helped care for his three younger sisters. He began boxing at 13, losing soundly in his first bout at the gym, but developed into a decorated amateur, winning two National Golden Gloves titles. Taylor's amateur career was shadowed by tragedy when his grandmother, Gussie Robinson, was murdered by her own son shortly before the 1998 Goodwill Games; Taylor placed the bronze medal he won at that event in her coffin. He went on to win a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, becoming only the second Arkansas-born boxer to make the U.S. Olympic team. Taylor turned professional in 2001, nicknamed "Bad Intentions," and delivered the signature victory of his career in 2005, defeating the long-reigning Bernard Hopkins to end his ten-year reign and become the undisputed middleweight champion. Taylor remains the most recent boxer to hold the undisputed title at 160 pounds. Taylor's career later declined amid a string of losses and personal legal troubles, including an assault arrest that led to him being stripped of a regained title in 2015. He retired with a professional record of 33 wins, four losses, and one draw, remembered as one of the finest middleweights of the mid-2000s despite a career that ended in difficult circumstances.

Orthodox stance, strong jab, good boxing fundamentals

Former undisputed middleweight champion who defeated Hopkins in his prime

• 2000 Olympic bronze medal