This made Taylor the first, and to date, only male boxer in history to claim each title from all four major boxing sanctioning organizations in a single fight.

Taylor retired as a world champion in the months that followed his capture of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight title for a second time in 2014, after making a substantial recovery from a brain injury sustained earlier in his career.

[4] He made his professional debut in 2001 and won his first 25 bouts, which included victories over former champions Raúl Márquez and William Joppy.

Taylor, who began boxing officially at age 13, earned numerous accolades throughout his amateur career, starting with his achievement of the 1996 Under-19 Championship.

During his reign as unified middleweight champion, Taylor won an immediate rematch against Hopkins and defeated Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks, as well as fighting Winky Wright to a draw.

Having vacated the World Boxing Council (WBC) and IBF titles, he lost the remainder of the unified and lineal middleweight championship to Kelly Pavlik in 2007, in what was his first professional defeat.

In 2009, Taylor challenged Carl Froch for the WBC super middleweight title, but was stopped with seconds remaining in the final round.

At the end of the year he participated in the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament, but was again knocked out in the closing seconds of the final round by Arthur Abraham.

[6] He made his professional boxing debut on January 27, 2001, at Madison Square Garden in New York City against Chris Walsh.

Taylor managed to knock Walsh down twice with his right hand and won his debut after forcing a stoppage with 16 seconds left in the fourth and final round.

Soon after Márquez arrived to his corner, his trainer told the referee to stop the fight, resulting in a technical knockout victory for Taylor.

Taylor landed several punches early in the fight and knocked Joppy down in the fifth round en route to a unanimous decision victory with scores of 120–107 from all three judges.

[12] Taylor fought Bernard Hopkins for the Undisputed Middleweight Championship on July 16, 2005 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

At age 40, Hopkins entered the bout with a record 20 consecutive successful title defenses and had not lost a fight in 12 years.

[19] On December 3, 2005, Taylor defeated Hopkins by unanimous decision in a rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

[20] Days before the fight, tensions rose after Hopkins mocked Taylor's speech impediment and called him a "phony champion."

Taylor responded by bringing a doll with Hopkins' name on it to the final prefight press conference to suggest that he was a "crybaby."

Pavlik began rising in popularity after an upset victory over Edison Miranda in a Middleweight Title Eliminator to determine the number one contender to fight Taylor.

[33] During their amateur careers, Taylor had defeated Pavlik on February 9, 2000 in the opening round of the United States Olympic trials.

[6] Fighting at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on February 16, 2008, Taylor lost the rematch to Pavlik by unanimous decision.

[39] On April 25, 2009, at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, Taylor fought Carl Froch for the WBC Super Middleweight title.

Taylor was hospitalized with a severe concussion, suffering short term memory loss, unable to remember details of this bout.

This was not an easy decision for me, having discussed it with my family, trainer, friends and my adviser Al Haymon, because I'm a very competitive person-but I know this is the smart road for me to take."

On February 6, 2015 Taylor was scheduled to defend his title against Sergio Mora on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights in Biloxi, Mississippi.

[42] However, the fight was cancelled after Taylor suffered an injury and was also later arrested and charged with multiple felonies following an incident on January 19 (see Personal life below).

[43] The IBF subsequently stripped him of his title on February 6, due to his inability to defend during his ongoing legal and mental health issues.

[47] In 2007, Taylor was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame along with former NFL players Rod Smith and Willie Roaf.

On August 26, 2014, Taylor was taken into police custody and charged with two felonies after officers said he shot his cousin during an altercation in his Little Rock, Arkansas, home.

He was also sentenced to probation and will have to serve 120 hours of community service, pay a $2,000 fine plus court costs, and will have to submit to regular drug screens.