Ex Middleweight Champ Jermain Taylor Arrested For Shooting Cousin

FRIDAY UPDATE: Kurt Emhoff, a PA-based attorney with multiple decades in the fight game under his belt, and an advisor to Sam Soliman, checked in with TSS. “(The Soliman-Taylor fight) looks like it’s going forward,” he said. “The IBF sanctioned it and the MS Commission is onboard.”

The event is set to take place at the Beau Rivage Resort, in Biloxi, Mississippi.

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Sad news out of Arkansas, boxing fans.

Former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor was arrested on Tuesday evening, and cops say he was detained for shooting at his cousin.

The 36-year-old boxer, who is, or maybe was, slated to take part in a title fight on October 18, was arrested Tuesday night, for shooting Tyrone Hinton, according to an Associated Press story.

Taylor lives in Maumell, a suburb of Little Rock. It was there, the AP story says, where “Bad Intentions” and his cousin beefed, according to the authorities’ account.

“Mr. Taylor was arrested for domestic battery, first-degree, and aggravated assault,” Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Carl Minden said Tuesday night, as quoted by the AP. “It was his cousin and another individual that came over to his house, an altercation ensued, he (Taylor) grabbed a weapon and opened fire.”

Hinton was in the hospital, in serious condition, with “an apparent gunshot wound.”

I reached out to Taylor promoter Lou DiBella for comment, as well Kurt Emhoff, the rep for Sam Soliman, the IBF 160 champ who is readying himself to fight Taylor, and will add comments if they arrive.

ESPN was set to televise the Soliman-Taylor scrap, a move which raised eyebrows in some circles, given that Taylor had left the sport after suffering some brain damage which appeared after his 2009 fight with Arthur Abraham. The 32-4-1 hitter was in comeback mode, having won four straight since the Abraham loss. He and his team insisted that he’d undergone the most rigorous medical exams and docs have deemed him fit to fight.

Now?

It seems like he’ll be dealing with a different sort of battle in the near future. We wish all involved well, and hope for an ending as happy as can be…

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