MASHANTUCKET, Conn. -- Only boxing can provide this kind of drama. And when it's over, one side is in ecstasy and the other in utter agony.
As Carl Froch, hurt earlier in the fight and losing on two of the three scorecards, celebrated his spectacular 12th-round TKO victory Saturday night, Jermain Taylor was separated from his senses, laying limp against the ropes and being cradled by referee Michael Ortega, who stopped the fight with 14 seconds left.
It was a compelling end to a punishing fight before 3,726 at the MGM Foxwoods, one that showed the heart of both fighters for all the world to see.
All Taylor needed to do in the final round was stay on his feet to hear the final bell. He led 106-102 on two scorecards, although the third judge somehow had Froch ahead 106-102. ESPN.com had Taylor ahead 108-100.
But Taylor couldn't do it, and so goes up in smoke the former undisputed middleweight champion's aim of claiming Froch's super middleweight title.
"It's what a fight is supposed to be," Taylor promoter Lou DiBella said. "Great fight."
It was, and the glory goes to England's Froch, who came to the United States with a desire to announce his arrival on the world scene.
Consider it mission accomplished. But it didn't look good early. That, however, is what set the stage for the dramatic conclusion.
Taylor, with faster hands, a stiff jab and an accurate right hand, landed a flush right in the third round. Froch wobbled ever so briefly. Then came another and it spun Froch around. And then another one over the top, and Froch went down.
"I didn't see it coming," Froch said. "He hit me with two right hands. I didn't see them coming. I'm all right. That's boxing. I got my composure."
But it was a stunning scene considering that Froch had never been down before.
Ever. Not as an amateur. And not as a professional.
From there, Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KOs) appeared in control. He was cruising toward a title in his second division, right?
He rocked Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) again at the end of the eighth with a right hand. In the 11th, he hurt Froch again with a combination and then bounced him off the ropes with a left.
"Unfortunately, I left myself open throughout the fight for counterpunches," Froch said.
Yet Froch, with steely inner fortitude, kept on truckin' in the 12th round, partly at the behest of trainer Robert McCracken and partly because that's what fighters are supposed to do.
"McCracken told me I needed to have a big 12th round and you saw it," Froch said. "I got it."
Oh, he sure did.
He got it because he was relentless and showed the same kind of heart he had shown in December, when he dug down deep and won a decision in a slugfest with Jean Pascal to claim the belt that Joe Calzaghe had vacated to move up in weight.
With 90 seconds to go, Froch hurt a tiring Taylor and then knocked him down with a left and right.
It didn't even look like Taylor would get up as he lay in a corner with one hand grasping the ropes. Somehow, he made it to his feet, however, and Ortega allowed it to continue, although a stoppage there wouldn't have been the worst idea.
Taylor had nothing left and could barely even hold on. And then Froch finished him with a flurry of unanswered shots that sent Taylor's head bouncing around like a rag doll and his eyes rolling up into his head.
Ortega didn't question his decision to finally stop it with so little time left.
"My main concern is for the safety of the fighter. Fourteen seconds or one second left makes no difference to me," he said. "The main thing is he gets to go home safe and sound to his family. He was defenseless. Hopefully, he can come back and fight another day."
It was the sort of dramatic ending that makes watching all those bad fights worth it -- unless, of course, you're a Taylor supporter.
"The last round I was hoping that my intuition was right that Jermain Taylor was tired," the 31-year-old Froch said. "He was badly hurt and not defending himself. He was badly hurt and not even looking at me. It was a great decision by the referee but Jermain Taylor is a warrior and he deserves [a rematch]. I would definitely give him one. Jermain is world class. He landed some big counter shots. This is my first defense in America, the first of my big fights."
Taylor, 30, said he would like a rematch, although perhaps it was false bravado.
"I would like a rematch," said Taylor, whose first loss was a similarly destructive knockout to Kelly Pavlik in their first fight for the middleweight championship. "My hat's off to him. He came here and stuck it out through 12 rounds. I trained my hardest. He just stayed with it and he got it."
DiBella, who had a rough weekend with Taylor being knocked out and another of his fighters, Deandre Latimore, losing a vacant junior middleweight title fight by a one-point split decision to Cory Spinks on Friday night, seemed to be in a bit of shock in the immediate aftermath of Taylor's brutal loss.
"Jermain said he was punched out and the other guy was strong in the 12th round," DiBella said. "I damn well thought Jermain was winning the fight. I had it big. Froch needed a knockout and he got it.
"He's very beatable; he's wide open and amateurish. But he's strong as an ox. He keeps coming. He's not as good as Taylor, but he won. He outlasted him. He won. I respect him."
You have to.
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.