Those without a vested interest in Taylor?s career were dismayed that he was given a green light to continue to fight?
IBF middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, 2014?s Comeback Fighter of the Year, has been stripped of his title. His legal and mental problems have been deemed serious enough to cut him loose.
The IBF rules state that a champion must be able to defend his title, which disqualifies Taylor, who is undergoing mental evaluation to determine if he is sane enough to stand trial.
According to Rule 5.C. of the IBF/USBA Rules Governing Championship Contests, ?Any boxer who is ill, injured, under a legal impediment which would prevent the bout from taking place, or on suspension at the time the Championships Chairman and President order a bout under this rule shall be considered unavailable.?
By that reckoning, Taylor is as unavailable as they come. Hassan N?Dam and Felix Sturm will fight for the vacated title.
This sorry chapter in the Jermain Taylor saga could have been avoided. When Taylor was hospitalized after suffering a brain bleed in his fight with Arthur Abraham in 2009, those without a vested interest in Taylor?s career were dismayed that he was given a green light to continue to fight.
Taylor, naturally, wanted to keep fighting. It was the one thing at which he excelled. What else was he going to do? And we were reminded, repeatedly, by his promoter and others, that Taylor was given a clean bill of health by those whose business it is to determine such things.
But everyone with an ounce of sense knew this was a roll of dice, a game of Russian roulette, and with Taylor?s itchy finger on the trigger, to expect the worst wasn?t negative, it was realistic.
But Taylor was useful. He was a name fighter. Money could be made from his labors. And all the backtracking in the world, however heartfelt, doesn?t mean this shouldn?t have transpired as it has. This could it have been prevented if those who greased the skids that allowed his career to continue had done so with their eyes wide open, instead of their eyes wide shut, so they might have seen what was right before them.
