9 minutes ago 2009-11-21T21:46:42-08:00
James Taylor fights Rob Kardashian at the Kardashian Charity Knock Out event in Los Angeles on November 3, 2009 Bret Newton/Pound4Pound.comAccess Hollywood
By Eric Anderson
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Reality TV might give some people headaches, but it can apparently also give you a concussion too, as Rob Kardashian found out the hard way.
Following the Kardashian Charity Knock Out event in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, the Kardashian sibling was left with what sister Kim called a "concussion" after stepping into the ring with trained fighter James Taylor, 33, who took on the reality star for charity.
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And while James -- a single father of two who works as an account executive for an insurance and risk management firm -- defeated Rob with a left-hand shot for a first round victory at the event, James told AccessHollywood.com that he's the one being forced to fend off cheap shots from people crying "foul" over the match.
"Boxing is a passion of mine. I train in a boxing gym but I'm definitely not a pro," James told AccessHollywood.com after online reports suggested Rob stepped into the ring against a professional fighter.
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Following the event, Kim posted a message on her personal Web site calling out James for being not only a trained fighter, but being bigger than her brother.
"[He was] 35 lbs heavier than Rob and was a trained fighter! He was overheard saying that he just wanted to be on TV!!" Kim blogged.
And while James admits he has a slight weight advantage over Rob, he said the "Keeping Up With the Kardashian" production company - who screened James before the fight -- didn't seem to mind.
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"Yea, I'm physically bigger than him, but they knew and didn't have a problem with it," he said. "At the time of the official weigh-in, I was 213 and Rob was 194. That's about 19 pounds - not 35."
James also defended himself against Kim's claims calling him a "down and dirty" fighter who hit her brother in the face after his head gear fell off.
"They're saying his face guard fell off and I kept hitting him. But I never threw a punch with his face mask off," James told Access. "I didn't come barging out in attack mode. They're making me sound like an animal. He came out and closed the distance on me. We were throwing shots and I landed a left that took him out. That was it."
In fact, coming into the fight, James admitted he was a bit worried about facing Rob.
"During the press conference for the show before the fight, Rob told everyone, 'I'm going to do my talking in the ring. I'm gonna knock him out.' I was nervous thinking this guy was really going to come after me," James said. "At my training session on Friday, they told us the family had been training and were fired up and ready to do this. Then when I heard him at the press conference, I saw there was a certain level of seriousness to him.
"He's a big kid. A long kid," he said of Rob. "I thought he was gonna come out and just jab me, but he came out and slugged. He came right at me and wanted to slug."
But before getting knocked down, Rob landed a few shots on James too.
"He caught me with a good left hook. I'm still a little sore," he admitted. "If he had hit me with the same punch I caught him with, I would've went down too."
Through it all, James said he hopes there's no hard feelings from Rob, who he said was "a good guy." And as far as a rematch in the future?
"I'd love to do it. After reading all this stuff about me, I'd say let's give it six weeks and get in fight shape and meet at the same weight and we can do it all again for charity," James said. "Let's just find out the rules this time - do we want to play Pattycake or do we want to box? Because I was told we were there to box."
For photos from the event, check out Pound4Pound.com.
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