By Tim Dahlberg

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) _ Jermain Taylor didn't do enough to beat Winky Wright, but just enough to keep his middleweight titles.

Taylor and Wright fought to a draw Saturday night, allowing Taylor to keep his undisputed title in a decision that infuriated Wright so much that he ran from the ring in protest.

Wright appeared to dominate the late rounds and Taylor's left eye was closed in the final round. The No. 1 challenger was so confident of victory that he was on the shoulders of a cornerman with his arms raised when the decision was announced.

One judge had Taylor winning 115-113, one had Wright ahead by the same margin and the third had it a 114-114 draw. The Associated Press scored it 116-112 for Wright.

Wright may have hurt himself at the end when he took much of the final round off, so confident he was that he was winning.

``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, 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.

Two judges gave Taylor the final round to get him the draw.

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

Wright complained that the judges were influenced by the crowd, many of whom came from Taylor's hometown of Little Rock, Ark., to cheer on their fighter.

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

Taylor, who had beaten Bernard Hopkins twice to win the titles,
remained undefeated in 26 fighibut 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.

That didn't bother Wright, who made a career out of fighting guys on their home towns before finally making it big. He took the fight to Taylor almost from the opening bell, and the action rarely slowed the rest of the way.

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