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Ouch! Jermain Taylor's left eye is swollen shut after the fight.
Jermain Taylor didn't do enough to beat Winky Wright, but just enough to keep his middleweight titles.
Taylor and Wright fought to a draw Saturday night, allowing Taylor to keep his undisputed title in a decision that infuriated Wright so much that he ran from the ring in protest.
Wright appeared to dominate the late rounds and Taylor's left eye was closed in the final round. The No. 1 challenger was so confident of victory that he was on the shoulders of a cornerman with his arms raised when the decision was announced.
One judge had Taylor winning 115-113, one had Wright ahead by the same margin and the third had it a 114-114 draw. The Associated Press scored it 116-112 for Wright.
Wright may have hurt himself at the end when he took much of the final round off, so confident he was that he was winning.
"He was running around in the last round like he had the fight won," Taylor said. "If I was him I would have kept fighting."
Wright, known as a defensive specialist, took the fight to Taylor from the opening bell in a fight that was fast-paced until it began to slow in the later rounds as both fighters were on the verge of exhaustion.
Two judges gave Taylor the final round to get him the draw.
"If I didn't win the 12th round, then who did?" Wright asked. "He certainly didn't."
Wright complained that the judges were influenced by the crowd, many of whom came from Taylor's hometown of Little Rock, Ark., to cheer on their fighter.
"I came to his hometown and showed everybody I'm the champ," he said. "I don't want a rematch. If I have to come here and get that kind of decision, what's the point."
Taylor, who had beaten Bernard Hopkins twice to win the titles, remained undefeated in 26 fights and kept the three belts that he brought into the ring. He did it mainly by using a big right hand to keep Wright off of him during many exchanges.
"It was a close fight, it could have gone either way," Taylor said.
Wright's corner was as confident as the fighter after the 11th round, when Wright went back to his corner with his arms upraised.
"You've got this fight Winky," trainer Dan Birmingham said.
That proved to be bad advice as both fighters did little in the final round.
Wright made his reputation as a difficult fighter to hit, but he went on the offensive early against Taylor, stalking him and landing clean shots to the head in the early rounds. Taylor landed hard punches of his own, and went to the body when Wright held his gloves up next to his head.
Wright, in his third straight fight as a middleweight, came into the fight on a winning streak spanning nearly seven years and with the confidence of a fighter with two wins over Shane Mosley and a dominating win over Felix Trinidad.
Still, Taylor was a slight favorite, in the classic matchup of a young slugger versus a crafty defensive fighter. He was even more of a favorite among the crowd.
That didn't bother Wright, who made a career out of fighting guys on their home towns before finally making it big. He took the fight to Taylor almost from the opening bell, and the action rarely slowed the rest of the way.
Taylor (25-0-1, 17 knockouts) earned $3.75 million, while Wright (50-3-1, 25 knockouts) was paid $3.5 million.
Source: AP