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Taylor Retains Championship Belt

Everyone loves to watch a comeback story. Picture a world champion in boxing who got dethroned, staging a comeback and regaining his championship belt. Sounds a lot like Rocky III right? Boxing fans had a chance to watch a real live version of Rocky III earlier this week when Jermain Taylor retained the undisputed middleweight world title, following a unanimous 12-round decision over former champion Bernard Hopkins.

The fight that was held in Las Vegas was the second fight between the two Americans had been much anticipated after Taylor ended Hopkins` reign of more than 10 years in Las Vegas in July with a controversial 12-round split decision. This fight was another close, if hardly action-packed, affair. But Taylor, 27, was more convincing than he was in the first fight, and all three judges - Chuck Giampa, Patricia Jarman and Dave Moretti - scored it 115-113 for the fighter from Arkansas, who improved to 25-0 with 17 wins inside the distance. Hopkins fell to 46-4-1 with 32 wins inside the distance.

There was plenty of other boxing action to watch this passing weekend. On the undercard, Israel Vazquez scored an early knockdown before posting a third-round technical knockout of fellow Mexican Oscar Larios, adding Larios` World Boxing Council super-bantamweight title to his own International Boxing Federation crown. Vazquez was awarded the victory after opening a nasty gash above Larios` left eye, prompting the referee to stop the bout on the advice of the ringside doctor.