Taylor Made: Jermain "Bad Intentions" Taylor

In July, Jermain "Bad Intentions" Taylor ended Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins 10-year reign as Middleweight Champion that had lasted an unprecedented 20 straight defenses. The 27-year-old Taylor walked away from the 12-round spilt decision bout as the undisputed WBC/WBA/IBF and WBO Middleweight Champion of the World.

We traveled to Taylor’s sweltering, spartan Little Rock, Ark., gym to see where a wayward 13-year-old boy was turned into a champion. Just a month after he toppled Hopkins, Jermain talked to us about the pressure he now faces as champ, dealing with fame and landing the perfect punch.

Everlast: You just defeated one of the best Middleweights of all-time in Bernard Hopkins and are the new Middleweight Champion of the World. How are you feeling?
Jermain Taylor: I am doing good. Real good. It took a while, but I’m finally starting to realize that I’m No. 1 in the world.

E: When did it really hit you?
JT: Honestly? A few days after the fight when I was sitting in my jacuzzi. I was watching TV and they were talking about me and I jumped up and started screaming "I’m No. 1!" I went on the Internet just to make sure.

E: Bernard Hopkins was obviously at the top of the weight division for a long, long time. And you’ve spoken a lot about how much you respected him going into that fight.
JT: Going into that fight I definitely respected him a lot. But now, after all the talking and everything he’s been doing after he lost, I’m losing that respect for him.

E: How has your life changed since you won that belt?
JT: Now, everybody knows me. Even little kids come up to me now because they recognize me. But otherwise, I’m still the same. I still get up to run. I’m still relaxing with my family now, going to a lot of movies, eating a lot of barbeque and just enjoying myself.

E: When does all that change in preparation for the rematch with Hopkins?
JT: I start training October 17 in Miami. Until then, I’m here in the gym (in Little Rock) two times a week. In Miami though, it’s every day. It’s like boot camp man. I’m a full-blown soldier by the time I step into the ring.

E: Describe your demeanor when you step into the ring.
JT: Put it this way: for me to do what I do, I have to have bad intentions.

E: "Bad Intentions" is a great nickname. Where did it come from?
JT: I was in Marquette, Michigan, sparring, training for a fight a while back and I was really getting after it. The next day, someone asked me, “Jermain, why do you always spar with such bad intentions?” Then when Michael Buffer said it on TV shortly after, it stuck.

E: Ozell Nelson has been your trainer since you first started boxing at the age of 13. That says a lot about how much you value loyalty.
JT: The people who are closest to you, the ones who have been there all your life, they’re the only people you can really trust. That’s who you listen to. Ozell’s been with me since the beginning, even beyond boxing.

E: Wasn’t it Ozell’s son who worked you over the very first time you stepped into the ring?
JT: He tore my ass up. He didn’t feel the least bit sorry for me either. Not a bit. But I came back the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. And I started getting better and better. And then I gave it back to him.

E: You say he got you pretty good that first day. What made a 13-year-old kid come back for more?
JT: The point of hitting him. He may have won that first day, but I got one real good lick in. And that’s all I could think about when I got home. I wanted to come back and do it again and again.

E: You’re rich. You’re famous. You’re the champion of the world. Why do you stay in Little Rock?
JT: I love my hometown. I love to represent my town and my state. It’s an honor to be the one who does something first. I was the first from my state to make it to the Olympics for boxing.

E: We also spent some time with Jeff Lacy. We know you guys are tight, but there’s a natural rivalry there, right? Will you guys fight someday?
JT: Man, me and Jeff have been talking about that since amateurs. That would be a big money fight and it would be great for the fans. I can’t wait to whoop his ass (laughs). We owe it to ourselves to fight, we really do. He’s a great guy, but I still can’t wait to beat the hell out of him (laughs).

E: People are always amazed at what a personable guy you are. We’ve heard that you’re liable to take a guy out to dinner right after you fight him...
JT:Oh yeah, man. That’s just me. As soon as you get out of the ring, it’s over. It’s done with. That’s why Bernard is making the sport so ugly. If I felt cheated like he does, I would have still respected the outcome and waited my turn. I would have taken my whoopin’, waited my turn and settled it like a man.

E: Tell us about how you prepare for a fight. Do you watch a lot of tape?
JT:: To be honest, I don’t really watch boxing. I really don’t. I don’t watch sports in general. I couldn’t tell you who won the Super Bowl last year. In terms of my preparation though, I’ll be honest with you. I watch the first and last round of my opponent’s last fight. I watch the first round to see how they approach the fight, how they hold their hands, the look in their eye. Then I watch the last round to watch how they’re throwing their punches when they’re tired. How are they holding up?

E: It’s funny that you don’t watch sports, seeing that your wife Erica starred at Louisiana Tech and was drafted by the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. We heard she whooped you when you guys played ball in the driveway...
JT: “Whooped” isn’t even the right word for what she did to me. I wish there was a ref out there because she was getting away with murder. That woman had a baby in college, came back, and scored 28 points in a game. If I had a baby, I’d be done. I’d be retired.

E: How good of a fighter can you be?
JT: To tell you the truth, I feel like I’m just getting started. It’s scary, but I’m still getting better and better. In that first Hopkins fight, I learned so much and I still won. It was amazing. And the next fight with him will be amazing too – until I knock him out.

E: So you feel like you learned a lot from your first fight with Bernard? How will your approach change with the rematch?
JT: Last time, I feel like I approached the fight with too much respect for him. This time he’s not “The Executioner” any more. He’s not the guy with so many defenses in a row. He’s just a regular guy who wants what I got.

E: You’ve knocked out 17 opponents as a pro. Do you know when a knockout is coming?
JT: Oh yeah. There’s a smell in the air. You catch him flush and his head goes back and it’s not supposed to go that far … there’s nothing like it in the world. And you just know it when you land the punch. There’s a “crack” and you’re like, “I got him.”

E: Have you ever looked at a guy and known beforehand that he’s was mentally knocked out before the fight even began?
JT: Oh sure. At the weigh-in, when they look you in the eye, you know. Or they look away from you at the center of the ring. And you just know it. I can smell it a mile away.

E: You talks some pretty good trash outside the ring. Do you talk during the fight?
JT: I never talk in the ring. And I never talked out of the ring until Bernard. I never really like to talk bad about a guy in the ring. I understand that it takes a man to get in that ring.

E: What is one thing you want fans of Jermain Taylor to know about you?
JT: I want people to know that Jermain Taylor is a normal guy. He’s the type of guy who can go out to eat and boxing is not going to come up once in the conversation. I can separate that from the rest of my life.

E: What do you love about boxing?
JT: Boxing is my sport. I don’t have to dress up, I can come to work with no shirt on… No man, I love boxing. I love the excitement. I love the training and I love it afterward, chilling in the locker room after a fight, knowing that I went in there and took care of business. It’s a great feeling.

E: Do you get nervous before a fight?
JT: Yes, I definitely get nervous. It’s not a scared nervous, it’s more like, “I know I’m on HBO and I don’t want to be knocked down in front of my friends.” That kind of nervous. And I don’t want to have to go and hear it at the barbershop. That’s where it all gets hashed out.

E: Now you’re the guy with the belts. How much more pressure are you feeling? JT: It’s not so much pressure as it so much more hype, you know? But I have to hold on to these belts. I want to keep them in my house for a long time. I’m not ready to give them up. And the thing is, I can hold on to them as long as I want to. That’s a good feeling to have.

Words. Patrick Cassidy; Photo. Stephen Hill