'Meldrick ain't got nothing'

Taylor wins split decision in controversial return to ring

By Mike Fish, CNNSI.com

While the boxing spotlight focuses on aging ex-champion Evander Holyfield’s return to the ring before shifting to the Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis production next weekend, another old champ -- Meldrick Taylor -- barely skirted under the radar in coming back from an almost three-year hiatus.

This was a small-time promotion on the pro boxing circuit. There was no seven-figure purse. There were no bright TV lights. Not even the sniff of a championship belt in what promoters sold as “Thunder in Birmingham.’’

But to hype the fight in the downtown auditorium, ex-heavyweight champ Ken Norton, “Hurricane’’ Carter and Muhammad Ali’s second wife, Khalilah, were ushered south. The ring announcer kindly introduced Ms. Ali as being “known as the good wife’’ and mother of four of the ex-champ’s offspring.

In the ring, you had Taylor, 35, once a beautiful boxer, a teenage gold medalist at the 1984 Olympics, who has been dogged by serious concerns about his health. He last fought in September 1999 in Ocala, Fla., an outpost that barely registers on the boxing map. Because of his slurred speech, folks that police the sport in states like New Jersey and Nevada have refused to grant him a license before he undergoes a battery of neurological tests -- and so Taylor had to shop for a place that would have him.

Taylor found himself such an oasis in Alabama, where he scored a controversial split-decision over southpaw Dillon Carew in the eight-round main event. Carew (12-9-3) entered the fight off four straight losses and only a day of training. It seems Taylor’s first scheduled opponent is now serving jail time and his sub, Willie McDonald, has been suspended by Georgia since September for “neurological reasons.’’

Still, Taylor could do little against Carew, looking awkward at times and catching far too many right-hand leads. The referee gave him the benefit of a couple slips, but the ex-champ was staggered early in the sixth round and forced to take a standing eight count.

“I need work,’’ said Taylor, leaving the ring. “I need my timing back.’’

Carew wasn’t so kind, feeling he was robbed of the decision.

“Meldrick is finished -- finished,’’ he said dejectedly. “Meldrick ain’t got nothing.’’

The ex-champ was fortunate that the fight even came off. It was only two days ago that the Louisiana boxing commission (Alabama doesn’t have a commission) agreed to supervise the fight. A day before the fight, Taylor got the OK of a Birmingham neurologist to fight, though Louisiana officials plan to put him on the suspended list pending a post-fight check-up.

Buddy Embanato, the Louisiana supervisor, kept close tabs Friday night on Taylor. The ringside physician was sent to his corner after the sixth round.

“The ref asked me to look because he took a lot of head shots,’’ Dr. Chip Thuss said. “He was fine.’’

Taylor proved to be a shadow of the fighter he once was, and even his name only brought out a few hundred boxing fans. In the end, many even booed him in victory.

 

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