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Boxer considered walking away after Ajahmi’s death
By Greg Gulas
YOUNGSTOWN
Video
It has been a rough five weeks for Warren boxer Anthony Taylor.
Forty days after scoring a majority decision over Hamzah Ajahmi of Detroit in the professional debut for both fighters — which resulted in Ajahmi’s death three days later — Taylor feels as if he is ready to resume his promising career.
Taylor met with local media Thursday at Jack Loew’s South Side Boxing Club. It was the first time he has addressed the media since Loew’s Dec. 19 “Season’s Beatings” pro-am card.
Taylor said it’s time to jump back into the ring.
“It’s kind of hard because I still think about the next fight that’s ahead of me,” he said. “It’s also sad because you don’t want something like that to happen.
“I was celebrating the victory and then that happened. It’s been hard.”
Taylor knocked down Ajahmi twice in the first-round and three times overall. He won the first-round in convincing fashion but admitting to having to play catch-up after a strong second and third round by Ajahmi.
”It was a very aggressive first round in which I kept coming and he kept coming,” Taylor said. “The second round I was kind of gassed and laid back some. The third round was pretty much a toss-up and the fourth round was like the first round. It was a battle back and forth.”
After finding out Ajahmi’s medical condition, he said that he just had to go visit him in the hospital.
“I was nervous. I mean, I never had to deal with anything like that before,” Taylor said. “Then, you know his family — I didn’t know how they were going to take to it but I showed up anyway,
“I had flowers and gave them to the family — his dad and uncle. They welcomed me with open arms, told me they wanted me to keep boxing and that none of this was my fault.”
Taylor has not gotten back into the ring since the fight. He considered not coming back at all.
“I’m still working out and sparring and the thought of not continuing crossed my mind,” he said. “It was my first pro fight and I never had to deal with anything like this as an amateur.
“I just really had to forgive myself, knowing that I didn’t do it intentionally. It’s a sport and this happens. It could have been me or anyone else that night. I forgave myself, went to church and just prayed about it.”
A talk with former WBA lightweight champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini helped Taylor. Mancini experienced a similar situation when Duk Koo Kim died after their Nov. 13, 1982 fight in Las Vegas. “I had a session with him [Mancini] the other day and we talked. He said he had to learn to forgive himself as well,” he said. “That’s how he overcame and I pretty much did the same thing. He also said that if I can’t go in there the same fighter that I was the night of that fight, with the aggression and all that, I don’t need to do it because something has been taken away.”
Loew, who canceled a follow-up card that was scheduled for Feb. 20, feels that Taylor will be ready for his upcoming six-bout pro card, scheduled for March 26 and also be held at the Sts. Peter and Paul Ukranian Orthodox Center on South Belle Vista Road.
“So far, so well for Anthony. We’ve had him sparring but like I’ve said, it’s going to be a totally different story March 26, his next fight,” Loew stated. “Same building, probably the same ring and in front of people knowing what happened in his previous fight. So I’m anxious to see myself how he is going to react. I don’t know, he don’t know, believe me he don’t know so we’re hoping everything goes well.”
Since Ajahmi’s death, the Loew camp hasn’t had any direct contact with the family but they’ve heard through other sources that they harbor no ill will.
“We haven’t had any direct contact with them, but through their trainer they’ve seen our previous news conference and the emotional side if it and they reached out to us,” Loew said. “They had a lot of kind words, telling us to go on. They said we gave their son a great opportunity to fight and make his pro debut where he couldn’t get any fights because of his weight and being on the East Coast.”