FORMER world middleweight boxing champion Jermain Taylor on Tuesday entered guilty pleas in an Arkansas state court to felony charges stemming from three separate cases and is set to face sentencing in April 2016, court officials said.

    Taylor, 37, had earlier indicated he would contest the charges, which include shooting and wounding a cousin in 2014 near the boxer’s home in suburban Little Rock.

    Taylor pleaded guilty to nine counts, each of which is a D-class felony under Arkansas law. Each count is punishable by zero to six years in prison, prosecutors said.

    “The amendments to the original charges were relatively minor,” said John Johnson, a deputy prosecuting attorney.

    In January, Taylor was arrested on suspicion of brandishing a pistol to threaten a family member during a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade in Little Rock, and in July was charged with battery for assaulting a man at a Little Rock substance abuse treatment center.

    In exchange for Taylor’s guilty plea, the state dropped a child endangerment enhancement count in the January incident and reduced in severity the charge arising from the July episode.

    Taylor has offered repeated apologies for his erratic behavior in recent years. He has also vowed to resume his career in the ring and was granted permission Tuesday by state court judge Leon Johnson to leave the state for training.

    Taylor was scheduled to defend his title in April, but citing his legal and medical difficulties, the International Boxing Federation declared the middleweight championship vacant.

    (SD-Agencies)