Former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor's rumored comeback looks like it will be going ahead after the Nevada commission unanimously voted 5-0 to approve him for a new license to box, according to Dan Rafael. Taylor likely will fight late this year in his native Arkansas, as the only step left is for Taylor to personally appear in front of the Nevada officials.
Taylor (28-4-1, 17 KO) underwent a series of tests, and while I expressed discomfort at the idea of Taylor fighting again when he planned to do so in August, this does make me feel at least a bit better. Nevada has faults like all commissions do, but at least it's Nevada voting to approve him after reviewing the tests, and not some rinky-dink commission elsewhere. There are a few commissions with reputations for licensing just about anyone, but Nevada is not one of those.
The 33-year-old Taylor hasn't fought since a scary 12th round knockout in Germany at the hands of Arthur Abraham on October 17, 2009. Overall, he's lost four of his last five fights, three of those by stoppage. But those losses did come to a peaking Kelly Pavlik (twice), Carl Froch, and Abraham, all of whom were undefeated fighters at the time Taylor fought them. He could easily have had a better recent record if he'd fought lesser competition, and perhaps then the concerns wouldn't be so heavy.
Given that it looks Taylor is likely to box on, all that can really be done is wish him the best. Whether or not he's ever likely to be a top contender again is another matter entirely, and truthfully, I doubt it. He's not the fighter he was back when he beat Bernard Hopkins on narrow scores twice in 2005, and he may never have really been that guy.