by David P. Greisman

Jermain Taylor has entered a not guilty plea in the case stemming from an incident in which the middleweight titleholder allegedly shot his cousin and threatened another man in late August, according to Arkansas television station KTHV.

A hearing has been scheduled for May 29, 2015, and a jury trial is scheduled to take place on June 23 and June 24, 2015, according to online court records.

Taylor is facing one felony count of first-degree battery and one felony count of first-degree terroristic threatening.

Per an Arkansas Online article last month: “Deputies reported that the boxer told them that he and [his cousin] ‘had problems … in the past’ and that when [the cousin] came onto Taylor’s property without an invitation, they argued. An arrest report said Taylor told investigators he went inside his home, grabbed his gun and then went back out and started firing.”

If convicted, the battery charge carries a sentence of five to 20 years, while the terroristic threatening charge comes with a sentence of no more than six years, according to Arkansas legal guidelines. In this reporter’s experience, sentences tend to run concurrently — at the same time — rather than consecutively (in which the time would be added together to create one larger sum).

Taylor, who is 36 years old, won the middleweight championship in 2005 with a split decision win over Bernard Hopkins. He reigned until 2007, losing via technical knockout to Kelly Pavlik. Taylor dropped a decision to Pavlik in a rematch, won a decision over Jeff Lacy and then was stopped by Carl Froch in the final round of their fight in early 2009. He then entered the “Super Six” super middleweight tournament.

His first and only tournament fight came against Arthur Abraham, who scored a one-punch, 12th-round knockout. Taylor suffered a brain bleed and was out of the sport for about two years. He returned in late 2011 after undergoing a series of medical examinations. Taylor won four bouts in a row and ultimately met a hobbled Sam Soliman this past October, scoring several knockdowns and taking Soliman’s title by unanimous decision. That moved Taylor’s record to 33-4-1 with 20 KOs.

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