NEW YORK (Reuters) - A judge sentenced Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor to six years of probation on Tuesday for paying an underage girl for sex.

The former linebacker for the National Football League's (NFL) New York Giants avoided jail time but must register as a sex offender and pay a $2,000 fine.

The sentence was expected since Taylor, 52, had reached a plea bargain with Rockland County prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty in January to two misdemeanors and cooperated with their ongoing probe into sex trafficking in the New York area. He previously faced felony charges.

Taylor admitted to paying a 16-year-old girl $300 for sex at a Holiday Inn in Montebello, some 35 miles northwest of New York City.

The girl, a runaway, told police her pimp had verbally threatened her and physically assaulted her before bringing her to the hotel.

Taylor's combination of size, strength and speed made him one of the most dominant defensive players in the NFL and he helped the Giants win two Super Bowl titles. He was named most valuable player of the league in 1986, retired in 1994 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999.