By JD Meredith and David Hudson at Ringside – Fightnews.com
For Jermain Taylor, Kassim “The Dream” Ouma lived up to his nickname, for the middleweight king, fighting in front of his home town for the first time as a champion, could
not have asked for a dreamier title defense.
Well, short of a knockout, anyway, for while dominating the fight, Taylor was unable to floor the game Ouma.
While chants of “JAY-TEE!” filled the Alltel Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas, Taylor dominated the score cards in the early rounds, building a sizeable lead while Ouma could do
little but weather the storm.
Down the stretch, “The Dream” sought to turn into Taylor’s nightmare, rallying in a desperate attempt to dethrone the champion, but could not change the course of the fight.
All three judges scored it unanimously for Taylor, with scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 115-113.
Fightnews also had Taylor winning, though closer to the 115-113 score than the 118-110 ledger.
” He came in and fought all twelve rounds,” said the champion, now 25-0-1 (17 KOs). “He was a tough guy. He was just that tough.”
Ouma, now 25-3-1 (15 KOs), told the press that he would like another shot at Taylor, even if it was in Little Rock again.
” I’m never going to give up,” he said. (more)
