Kassim Ouma fought his heart out, but he was just too small.

The former Ugandan child soldier soldiered on in a fight where it was clear from round one that Jermain Taylor was too big and too strong for him, throwing combinations and pressing on in vain in front of 10,000 Taylor die-hards at the Alltel Arena in Arkansas. The open scoring experiment, in which the scorecards were read after rounds four and eight didn't reveal anything that the crowd didn't already know, and after twelve rounds it was a forgone conclusion that Taylor had won by unanimous decision. I had it 118-111 for the middleweight champion.

The fight itself was far less exciting and tactical than the previous week's, in which Winky Wright dominated Ike Quartey in front of his hometown fans in Florida, taking chances by trading with the once dangerous "Bazooka". Taylor, 26-0-1 (17), is simply a big, agile athlete, a likable guy who just doesn't posess the craft or boxing skills to make him a star outside of his home state. It was the smaller Ouma - a natural 154-pounder - who showed the more skill in his combination punching and defence, but his shortcomings in size were too much of a disadvantage for him to ever have a chance of winning - especially since he is not a knockout puncher. Taylor, however, is, and despite a few tense moments in the first round the champion never really tried for the knockout he had promised his fans.

The fight showed that Ouma, 25-3-1 (15), has heart, balls, and tenacity. Ever the optimist, and even though he must have known he was losing the fight, Ouma raised his hands after the bell closed each round, as if to try to convince the judges that he was winning. And Ouma landed often, and pressed the fight. Taylor should have raised hell to make sure he gave the fans what they had asked for - a knockout - instead of limping back into the ropes or smothering his punches. Surely Taylor could have knocked out the strong-chinned Ouma had he went all out. He had is work cut out for him in fighting a smaller fighter, but he did not make a statement.

Wright 1, Taylor 0.