By Tim Dahlberg

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) _ Winky Wright started celebrating a round too early. It may have cost him the middleweight title.

The No. 1 challenger thought he had Jermain Taylor beaten when he went back to his corner after the 11th round of their middleweight title fight Saturday night with his arms in the air. The men in his corner thought the same thing.

Wright was so certain of victory he fought only sparingly in the last round, and he paid the price. Taylor won the round on two of the three ringside scorecards to salvage a draw and keep the undisputed middleweight title.

``He was running around in the last round like he had the fight won,'' Taylor said. ``If I was him I would have kept fighting.''

Wright was so upset when the decision was announced that he bolted from the ring, angry at what he claimed was a hometown decision.

``I came to his hometown and showed everybody I'm the champ,'' Wright said. ``I don't want a rematch. If I have to come here and get that kind of decision, what's the point.''

Taylor, the 2000 Olympic bronze medallist, remained undefeated and kept his middleweight belts, but it wasn't easy. Wright, a southpaw with a peekaboo style, seemed to dominate the late rounds and Taylor couldn't see out of his left eye because it was swollen shut by the 12th round.

Neither fighter did that much in the round, but Taylor did enough to impress two of the judges and earn the draw.

``If I didn't win the 12th round, then who did?'' Wright asked. ``He certainly didn't.''

Wright was so confident his arm was going to be raised in victory that he was lifted on the shoulders of a cornerman as the scores were announced. When they came in, one judge had it 115-113 for Wright, one had it 115-113 for Taylor and the third had it 114-114.

The Associated Press had Wright winning 116-112.

Wright, known as a defensive specialist, took the fight to Taylor from the opening bell in a fight that was fast-paced until it began to slow in the later rounds as both fighters were on the verge of exhaustion.

Wright complained that the judges were influenced by the crowd of 9,678, many of whom came from Taylor's hometown of Little Rock, Ark., to cheer on their fighter. They did just that, and were rewarded with both a good fight and a decision that allowed Taylor to keep the titles.

Ringside punching statistics showed Wright landing 226 of 642 punches to 163 of 703 for Taylor. But Taylor seemed to land the harder punches in a fight that was closely contested most of the way.

Taylor, who had beaten Bernard Hopkins twice to win the titles, remained undefeated in 26 fights and kept the three belts he brought into the ring. He did it mainly by using a big right hand to keep Wright off of him during many exchanges.

``It was a close fight, it could have gone either way,'' Taylor said. ``He has a great jab and he's faster than I thought he was.''

Wright's corner was as confident as the fighter after the 11th round, when Wright went back to his corner with his arms upraised.

``You've got this fight Winky,'' trainer Dan Birmingham said.

That proved to be bad advice as both fighters did little in the final round.

Wright made his reputation as a difficult fighter to hit, but he went on the offensive early against Taylor, stalking him and landing clean shots to the head in the early rounds. Taylor landed hard punches of his own, and went to the body when Wright held his gloves up next to his head.

Wright, in his third straight fight as a middleweight after spending most of his career at 154 pounds, came into the fight on a winning streak spanning nearly seven years and with the confidence of a fighter with two wins over Shane Mosley and a dominating win over Felix Trinidad.

Still, Taylor was a slight favourite, in the classic matchup of a young slugger versus a crafty defensive fighter. He was even more of a favourite among the crowd.

Taylor (25-0-1, 17 knockouts) earned $3.75 million US, while Wright (50-3-1, 25 knockouts) was paid $3.5 million.