Jermain Taylor vs. Bernard Hopkins II

Jermain Taylor vs. Bernard Hopkins II, billed as No Respect, was a professional boxing match contested on December 3, 2005, for the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, WBO, and The Ring middleweight championships.

No Respect

Date	December 3, 2005
Venue	Mandalay Bay Events Center, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBA, WBC, WBO and The Ring middleweight championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer Jermain Taylor Bernard Hopkins Nickname Bad Intentions The Executioner Hometown Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Purse $2,000,000 $10,000,000 Pre-fight record 24–0 (17 KO) 46–3–1 (1) (32 KO) Age 27 years, 3 months 40 years, 10 months Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) Weight 159 lb (72 kg) 160 lb (73 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBA, WBC, WBO and The Ring Middleweight Champion WBC/WBA/WBO No. 2 Ranked Middleweight The Ring No. 1 Ranked Middleweight Former undisputed middleweight champion
Result
Taylor wins via unanimous decision (115–113, 115–113, 115–113)

Background

Just 4 and a half months prior, Jermain Taylor had surprised the boxing world by scoring an upset victory over the reigning undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins, who had not lost in over 12 years and had made 20 consecutive title defenses, needing only one more to surpass Larry Holmes to set the record as the fighter with the most. The fight was not without controversy as though Hopkins started off slowly, he took control of the later rounds and many in the media still had him as the clear winner. Hopkins took issued the scoring of the final round by judge Duane Ford. Ford had scored the 12th round in favor of Taylor 10–9 in contrast to the other two judges who had given Hopkins the round 10–9. Hopkins filed an official appeal with the Nevada State Athletic Commission contending that Ford was incorrect in scoring the round for Taylor and had he scored the fight in Hopkins favor, the fight would've been declared a split draw, allowing Hopkins to keep his titles. Hopkins explained "I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't challenge something that's in dispute around the world, based on a judge thinking Jermain Taylor won a round that everybody else says I won." NSAC Marc Ratner admitted that an overturned decision was unlikely as they had not found anything to conclude that the Ford had either scored the fight incorrectly or colluded with other judges, but nevertheless submitted Hopkins' appeal to a five man committee, who denied Hopkins' appeal three days later Though Hopkins was unsuccessful in his appeal, he still held a rematch clause from the previous fight's contract and had exercised it shortly after his defeat, officially putting the rematch on for later in the year. Hopkins and his team originally eyed an October 1 date for the rematch, but Taylor's manager Lou DiBella refused, stating that Taylor needed more time to heal from a deep gash he had sustained to his head during the first fight and December would be the earliest that the rematch would take place.

On 15 October the IBF stripped Taylor of their belt.

The fight

In what was another close fight, Taylor would again defeat Hopkins, this time by unanimous decision with three identical scores of 115–113. Like their previous fight, Hopkins started off slowly with Taylor taking most of the early and middle rounds before Hopkins rebounded to take the later rounds, though he had already put himself in too big a hole to earn the decision. The punch stats were extremely close with Hopkins narrowly outlanding Taylor, scoring 130 of his 371 thrown punches as opposed to Taylor, who landed 124 of his 391 punches.

Aftermath

Following his second loss to Taylor, Hopkins decided not to retire but instead he jumped two weight divisions to face off against light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver.

Fight card

Confirmed bouts:

Weight Class	Weight		vs.		Method	Round	Notes
Middleweight	160 lbs.	Jermain Taylor (c)	def	Bernard Hopkins	UD	12/12	Note 1
Super Bantamweight	122 lbs.	Israel Vázquez	def.	Óscar Larios (c)	TKO	3/12	Note 2
Middlweight	160 lbs.	Ike Quartey	def.	Carlos Bojorquez	TKO	10/10
Super Lightweight	140 lbs.	Demetrius Hopkins	def.	Jesse Feliciano	KO	4/10
Super Welterweight	154 lbs.	Joshua Clottey	def.	Marcos Primera	UD	10/10
Super Welterweight	154 lbs.	Kofi Jantuah	def.	Donny McCrary	RTD	3/8
Middleweight	160 lbs.	Andre Berto	def.	Taronze Washington	KO	1/8
Super Welterweight	154 lbs.	Larry Mosley	def.	Jeremy Yelton	TKO	4/8
Welterweight	147 lbs.	Rock Allen	def.	Calvin Pitts	TKO	2/6

^Note 1 For WBA, WBC, WBO and The Ring middleweight titles
^Note 2 For WBC Super Bantamweight title

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
Hungary	Sport 1
United States	HBO