Facing the Vogue camera, middleweight boxing champ Jermain "Bad Intentions" Taylor definitely looks like he deserves his menacing nickname. You can just tell by the fierce focus on his face that when he steps inside the ring, this 26-year-old from Little Rock is a bruiser to be reckoned with—and, yes, since taking the bronze at the 2000 Olympics, he has been undefeated. But true to the best sentimental Hollywood tradition, his iron exterior does turn out to hide a sweet and gentle personality. "Jermain always finds something to laugh about," says coach Ozell Nelson, who has been with him since he was thirteen. "He has such a good heart."

"Boxing is a thrill because it's one-on-one, and I know that if I lose it's only because my opponent is better than me," Taylor says. "I am my own team, and I am the only one who is going to win it." Going one-on-one with model Daria Werbowy, "Bad Intentions" found himself humbled by the challenges of posing. "I have to give it to Daria," he says. "It's not easy to hold still and look natural doing it. She works hard."

—Jane Herman

"We Are the Champions" photographed by Steven Klein has been edited for Style.com; the complete story appears in the March 2005 issue of Vogue.

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