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Former World Boxing Federation
(WBF) World Featherweight
Champion Pete Taliaferro
didn't get his upbringing in one
of the many “boxing hot spots”
across America, such as New
York, Philadelphia or Los
Angeles.
Never the less, from Mobile in
Alabama, located on the Gulf
Coast in southern USA, he found
his way, and, while he never
made it to super stardom, carved
out a career for himself with
fights and accomplishments that
many would only dream of.
Born on May 18, 1971, Taliaferro
made his professional boxing
debut at nineteen, stopping one
Scott Phillips (5-10) in the
third round on a small show at
the Auburn University Physical
Education Complex in Montgomery,
Alabama.
After that he build a nice
following in his home-town, and
would eventually box twenty-six
times in Mobile, mainly at
venues such as Shriner´s
Auditorium and The Fairgrounds
Arena. Not always in front of
big crowds, though, and at the
start of his career rarely
against threatening competition.
But it would not be long before
Taliaferro was one of the main
attractions, along with Super
Welterweight contender Floyd
Williams and
Randall Yonker,
who had been the stars of Mobile
boxing for some years. Yonker
would go on to win the WBF World
Light Heavyweight title in 1992.
On August 5, 1991, in only his
ninth pro fight, Taliaferro
headlined at Shriner´s
Auditorium, stopping hopelessly
over-matched Randy Thomas (3-15)
in the first round of a fight
ambitiously scheduled for ten.
Floyd Williams, coming off his
first loss, was on the
undercard.
In his first eleven months in
the paid code, Taliaferro raced
to a record of 11-0 (10) against
the likes of Darrin Neal
(1-32-1), Jerry Strickland
(11-82), Amos Cowart (9-10),
Eddie Rifchardson (12-27-1),
Jerome Brooks (0-14), and the
aforementioned Thomas.
Hardly a murderers row, and,
while he was learning on the job
and a few of his foes were
capable journeymen, Taliaferro
came up short when he faced his
first real test, Mark Smith
(16-5) from neighbor-state
Tennessee, in October of 1991,
losing a split decision over ten
rounds.
Having learned from his first
set-back, Taliaferro decided to
firmly prove his doubters wrong
in his very next fight. Topping
a bill at The Fairgrounds Arena
in January of 1992, he scored a
unanimous decision over fellow
prospect John West (9-1), and
once again his future in the
ring looked bright.
1992 was a very good year for
Pete Taliaferro. He fought nine
times and improved his record to
19-1 (14), beat some notable
opponents, and finished the year
by dethroning the reigning WBF
World Featherweight Champion.
After the victory over West, he
scored four low-profile
victories before out-pointing
former NABF titlist Darryl
Pinckney (11-13-2), who despite
a less than impressive
win-loss-draw statistic was
considered a world class
operator, and impressively
stopping former IBF World
Champion Kelvin Seabrooks
(28-18) in seven rounds.
With a shot at WBF World
Champion Barrington Francis
(20-3-4), a Jamaican-born
Canadian, already set for
November 28, Taliaferro stayed
busy with a second round
knockout of Sylvester Kennon
(24-20) only eighteen days
earlier.
It was obviously a risk boxing
so close to what was the biggest
fight of his career at the time,
But Taliaferro barely broke
sweat and emerged more than
ready to take on Francis, making
his fourth title-defense, at
Mississippi Coast Coliseum in
Biloxi.
Francis might have been slightly
on the down-slide that night,
indicated by a non-title fight
draw against unheralded Hector
Javier Monjardin in his previous
outing, but that should not take
anything away from the
performance of Taliaferro, who
boxed a wonderful fight.
After twelve rounds of boxing,
the victory was clear and
Taliaferro could celebrate being
the new World Boxing Federation
(WBF) World Featherweight
Champion by unanimous decision,
with scores of 119-111, 119-111
and 117-112.
The WBF was still “the new kid
on the block” in the early
nineties, and at some point
Taliaferro decided to relinquish
his crown to go for world titles
more established at the time. In
August of 1993 he won a rematch
against Marc Smith (now 20-12),
but he would have to wait quite
some time for his shot.
And the route towards a chance
to win a second world title was
very much an up-and-down ride.
Former World Champion Calvin
Grove (45-5) beat Taliaferro by
split decision in November of
1993, but in February 1994 he
rebounded nicely by defeating
perennial contender Bernard
Taylor (45-3-2).
Four months after that,
Taliaferro was matched against
future Hall-of-Famer Arturo
Gatti (16-1) who blew him out in
the very first round, but less
than two months on he was again
back in the mix after a decisive
first round demolition job of
his own against the usually
tough Wayne Boudreaux (17-4).
On November 2, 1994 Taliaferro
did fight a reigning World
Champion, but New Yorker Kevin
Kelly´s WBC World Featherweight
title was not on the line when
they squared off at the Grand
Casino in Tunica, Mississippi.
Kelly (40-0), who was known as a
very skilled and hard-punching
southpaw, naturally entered the
bout a massive favorite, and,
while the underdog didn't
embarrass himself, controlled
most of the fight before finally
scoring a stoppage just over
half a minute before the final
bell.
Ironically it might have been
his losing performance against
Kelly that finally secured
Taliaferro another world title
fight. After two rebuilding
victories, he challenged WBO
Super Featherweight ruler
Regilio Tuur (38-3-1) in June of
1995, but was stopped in five
rounds.
He then moved up in weight
again, to lightweight, and won
four straight before dropping a
twelve round decision to Swede
George Scott (28-1) in the
summer of 1996. But again, as
boxing sometimes works, a loss
might have secured him another
major fight. But he would have
to travel far to get it.
After routinely stopping
trial-horse Jerry Smith (12-22)
to return to winning ways, a
fight against IBF World
Lightweight Champion Phillip
Holiday (30-0) was agreed for
May 16, 1997 in Hammanskraal,
South Africa. And Taliafarro
almost pulled off the upset!
Getting
knocked down himself in the
first round, the American
floored the home-man in round
two and battled him hard the
entire fight. It was back and
forth action, and while all
three judges scored the fight
115-111, one of them had it in
favor of Taliafarro.
So close but yet so far away,
Taliafarro was left to ponder if
perhaps the time had come for
him to hang up his gloves on a
high note. But, turning only
twenty-six just two days after
his excellent performance in
South Africa, at least on paper
he had barely hit his peak.
He decided to find out if he had
another run in him, but it would
be over a year before he
returned to action, going ten
rounds at Light Welterweight and
winning on points against the
outclassed but durable Raymond
Flores (6-20-4) back in Alabama.
Only three weeks later he lost
to Mexican-American Ahmed Santos
(20-1-3) for the vacant IBA
World Light Welterweight title
in Las Vegas, and the decision
to call it a day was more or
less made for him. At
twenty-eight, and after
forty-two professional fights,
he retired with a 34-8 (24)
record.
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