Just KC
12-10-2006, 07:36 PM
It’s very difficult to win a fight when backing up, but Jermain Taylor did it Saturday night at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas, retaining his WBC and WBO middleweight titles with a convincing 12-round unanimous decision over Kassim Ouma.
Tom Kaczmarek scored the fight 117-111 and Jack Woodburn had it 118-110. Sergio Silvi scored it 115-113 for Taylor.
Ouma’s (25-3-1, 15 knockouts) charging style and the fact he was throwing multiple punches made it seem he was busier than Taylor. In reality, Taylor was landing punches on the outside that allowed him to win the bout.
The WBC sanctioned the three judges to have their scorecards read to the crowd after the fourth and eighth rounds. After four rounds, Taylor held a 40-36 edge. Following the eighth, Taylor remained in control with two judges scoring it 80-72 and Woodburn giving Taylor a four-point lead.
Taylor (26-2-1, 15 knockouts) landed a variety of shots - uppercuts, hooks to body and the old 1-2. Ouma, with a five-inch height disadvantage, moved forward the entire fight to limit Taylor’s ability to land long lean punches. It was Ouma’s first bout at middleweight.
“He came in and fought all 12 rounds,” Taylor said of Ouma. “I give it to him; for a little guy, he’s tough.”
Ouma’s strategy hampered him. It limited his opportunities to land punches inside. Ouma spent more time on the receiving end of clean shots, especially at the end of rounds, than landing them.
Taylor suffered a cut in the corner of his left eye in the fifth round the result of an accidental head butt, as ruled by referee Frank Garza.
At the end of the night, Taylor, an Arkansas native, had some slight swelling on his left eye, but his corner controlled the bleeding from being a major problem.
In the first round, Taylor was off balance as he tried to land punches. Instead, he looked awkward and barely won the first round.
Taylor said before the fight he was trying to knockout Ouma because he was tired of several close decisions, all going in his direction for the exception of his draw with Winky Wright last June.
After the first round, Taylor’s trainer, Emanuel Steward told him: “Settle down, you’re too wild.”
“That’s exactly what happened,” Taylor said. “I came in the first couple of rounds trying to knock him out I had it in my head I wanted to knock him out so bad, I [punched] myself out, but I was in such good shape I stayed in there.”
Despite Ouma’s charges, Taylor went to the body with good hooks and he landed strong 1-2 punches inside. Taylor threw his jab from time-to-time and pretty much was in control.
It was Taylor’s best performance since winning the middleweight titles over Bernard Hopkins in 2005.
In his previous three fights, it appeared Taylor was just going through the motions and not trying to take the titles from Hopkins, or retain them from Wright. This time, Taylor was in charge and it showed as Ouma wore a weathered look on his face when the bout was over.
Taylor can now rest until the spring, where fights with Wright or possibly Joe Calzaghe at 168 pounds await.
“Whoever wants to fight,” Taylor said. “I’m in this to feed my family. I’m not backing down from nobody. That little guy came to fight and came to win.”
On the main undercard, rising welterweight Andre Berto was fantastic in scoring a sixth round technical knockout over Miguel Figueroa in a scheduled 10 round bout.
Berto landed four hard shots to Figueroa’s chin in the corner, forcing referee Laurence Cole to step in and stop the bout.
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Well i wanted to Ouma to win because i kind of have a soft spot for him but it was a one sided fight
Tom Kaczmarek scored the fight 117-111 and Jack Woodburn had it 118-110. Sergio Silvi scored it 115-113 for Taylor.
Ouma’s (25-3-1, 15 knockouts) charging style and the fact he was throwing multiple punches made it seem he was busier than Taylor. In reality, Taylor was landing punches on the outside that allowed him to win the bout.
The WBC sanctioned the three judges to have their scorecards read to the crowd after the fourth and eighth rounds. After four rounds, Taylor held a 40-36 edge. Following the eighth, Taylor remained in control with two judges scoring it 80-72 and Woodburn giving Taylor a four-point lead.
Taylor (26-2-1, 15 knockouts) landed a variety of shots - uppercuts, hooks to body and the old 1-2. Ouma, with a five-inch height disadvantage, moved forward the entire fight to limit Taylor’s ability to land long lean punches. It was Ouma’s first bout at middleweight.
“He came in and fought all 12 rounds,” Taylor said of Ouma. “I give it to him; for a little guy, he’s tough.”
Ouma’s strategy hampered him. It limited his opportunities to land punches inside. Ouma spent more time on the receiving end of clean shots, especially at the end of rounds, than landing them.
Taylor suffered a cut in the corner of his left eye in the fifth round the result of an accidental head butt, as ruled by referee Frank Garza.
At the end of the night, Taylor, an Arkansas native, had some slight swelling on his left eye, but his corner controlled the bleeding from being a major problem.
In the first round, Taylor was off balance as he tried to land punches. Instead, he looked awkward and barely won the first round.
Taylor said before the fight he was trying to knockout Ouma because he was tired of several close decisions, all going in his direction for the exception of his draw with Winky Wright last June.
After the first round, Taylor’s trainer, Emanuel Steward told him: “Settle down, you’re too wild.”
“That’s exactly what happened,” Taylor said. “I came in the first couple of rounds trying to knock him out I had it in my head I wanted to knock him out so bad, I [punched] myself out, but I was in such good shape I stayed in there.”
Despite Ouma’s charges, Taylor went to the body with good hooks and he landed strong 1-2 punches inside. Taylor threw his jab from time-to-time and pretty much was in control.
It was Taylor’s best performance since winning the middleweight titles over Bernard Hopkins in 2005.
In his previous three fights, it appeared Taylor was just going through the motions and not trying to take the titles from Hopkins, or retain them from Wright. This time, Taylor was in charge and it showed as Ouma wore a weathered look on his face when the bout was over.
Taylor can now rest until the spring, where fights with Wright or possibly Joe Calzaghe at 168 pounds await.
“Whoever wants to fight,” Taylor said. “I’m in this to feed my family. I’m not backing down from nobody. That little guy came to fight and came to win.”
On the main undercard, rising welterweight Andre Berto was fantastic in scoring a sixth round technical knockout over Miguel Figueroa in a scheduled 10 round bout.
Berto landed four hard shots to Figueroa’s chin in the corner, forcing referee Laurence Cole to step in and stop the bout.
_________________________ _________________________ _______________
Well i wanted to Ouma to win because i kind of have a soft spot for him but it was a one sided fight