Deja Vu for Taylor as Abraham scores last round knockout
Arthur Abraham laid down a huge marker in the Super Six World Boxing Classic with a punishing final round knockout of Jermain Taylor in Berlin.
Overcoming a slow start, Abraham came on stronger in the second half of the fight and a hard straight right connected perfectly with Taylor sending the American thumping to the canvas in a heavy knockout. It was a hurtful case of déjà vu for Taylor, as he suffered a dramatic final-round knockout against Carl Froch in his last fight, and Abraham inflicted an identical stoppage in their first Super Six fight.
Taylor was comprehensively outboxed by slick stylist Abraham, who quickly got the measure of his opponent before building a healthy lead and blasting him out with seconds remaining. Taylor, formerly the undisputed middleweight world champion, unsurprisingly took the role of aggressor against his Armenian-born German opponent but found Abraham's defence hard to penetrate.
Abraham gradually came out of his shell and despite being less aggressive, was landing the cleaner shots. Taylor's cause was not helped by a point deduction in round six for repeated low punching. There was no comeback for Taylor though, he hit the deck hard and never looked like getting back to his feet, as Abraham started the tournament off with a maximum three points with two for the win and a bonus for the knockout victory.
Abraham (31-0, 25 KOs) used a big right hand to floor Taylor (28-4-1), who was counted out with six seconds left in the bout. Fighters who win by KO or TKO are given three points, by decision two and they get a point for a draw. Losses don't accumulate points. The four fighters with the highest point total after the group stage will meet in the semi-finals with the winners advancing to the title bout. In the aftermath of the fight, it has since come to light that Taylor suffered a severe concussion and was taken to the hospital, said the fighter's promoter Lou DiBella. Taylor will remain in the hospital for several days.
After Taylor left the ring under his own power, he complained of a headache, DiBella said. Taylor was taken to the hospital and underwent a battery of tests. DiBella added that he would have additional tests, including another CT scan and MRI, before he is released.
"He has a severe concussion, he also had some short-term memory loss, and in the interest of being completely safe and overly safe, he'll be in the hospital probably for several days. They believe the area of his head that was hurting him was from his head hitting the canvas. He'll be in Berlin for another week because the doctors didn't want him to fly, but his wife and his mother are with him." DiBella said
DiBella said when they were in the dressing room after the fight, Taylor asked him what round he was knocked out in. DiBella told him, but Taylor asked him again a few minutes later. And then, according to DiBella, Taylor asked his wife the same question twice because he could not recall which round he had been stopped in.
Taylor was also knocked out in his previous bout in April, when titleholder Carl Froch rallied to stop him with 14 seconds left in the 12th round. Taylor, who outpointed Bernard Hopkins in 2005 to claim the undisputed middleweight championship, has lost four of his last five bouts, including three by knockout.
"Whether Taylor remains in the modified round-robin Super Six tournament has not been determined", DiBella said.
If Taylor continues in the tournament, he would face Andre Ward next followed by Andre Dirrell. Froch and titleholder Mikkel Kessler are the other two boxers in the tournament. In his hometown of Nottingham, England, Froch outpointed Dirrell to retain his title on Saturday night in the second-half of Showtime's split-site doubleheader. Denmark's Kessler comes to Ward's hometown of Oakland to defend his belt in the final Group Stage 1 bout on Nov. 21.
"Jermain's health is paramount and whether he continues in the tournament or not is not a decision that has to be made right this second," DiBella said. "He suffered a bad knockout. He was suspended medically, like anyone who suffers a knockout, so we don't have to think about that right now. Right now, we're just concerned with getting him home and getting him healthy, and we won't explore anything else right now."
Should Taylor, or any other fighter, withdraw from the tournament, Allan Green, whom DiBella also promotes, has been designated by Showtime as the first alternate.