Jermain Taylor was set to fight IBF middleweight champion Sam Soliman for the title on October 8, but that fight appears lost after Taylor was arrested Tuesday night in connection with a shooting in Little Rock, Arkansas.
According to reports, Taylor's cousin and another person had an altercation with Taylor at the boxer's home that ended with the cousin being taken to a nearby hospital in serious condition.
"Mr. Taylor's cousin and another individual came to his residence, and there was some sort of altercation," Lt. Carl Minden, the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office spokesman told ESPN.
"At some point, Mr. Taylor retrieved a handgun and fired several rounds. His cousin was struck multiple times. The cousin is alive and in serious condition at an area hospital. He has pretty serious injuries. The other person was not struck, but Mr. Taylor had fired several rounds and missed."
The boxer was reportedly cooperative with investigators, Minden added. The Soliman fight was scheduled to be the headline fight of a special ESPN2 boxing event. Earlier in his career Taylor was among the top fighters in the world pound-for-pound. He owns two victories over Bernard Hopkins in 2005.
His career began heading south after back-to-back losses to Kelly Pavlik. Those two losses launched a tough stretch in which he lost four of fight fights. The latter two were two Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham in the Super Six super middleweight tournament. Against Abraham Taylor's career was in jeopardy of ending; he suffered a 12th-round knockout and had bleeding on his brain.
Taylor didn't fight again for two years, returning in December 2011 with a knockout win over Jessie Nicklow. He is undefeated in four fights since returning from the layoff, and last fought against Juan Carlos Candelo in December 2013.
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