Was Chavez-Taylor A Good Call?

[Knicksman20]

I really think that if Duva hadn't distracted Taylor when Steele was asking him questions, then Taylor would've verbally responded to Steele, the fight would have gone on, and Taylor would have won a SD.

I blame Duva for that. Anyone see him lying through his teeth on Legendary Nights, claiming he told Taylor to dance and stay away in round 12?

Duva is a liar, which is why I don't understand why people take him at his word when he claims that Steele had this long history before hand of favoring Don King fighters. The Tyson-Ruddock stoppage came a year AFTER Chavez-Taylor I. If we're talking about fights AFTER Chavez-Taylor I, then Steele also took away 2 points from Chavez against Randall, when Chavez lost by 1 point on the cards. Steele also let Taylor get away with quite a few low blows and borderline shots on Chavez.

The only fight I can think of before Chavez-Taylor I where you can say that Steele may have been pro-King was Tyson-Bruno I when he didn't penalize or warn Tyson for hitting Bruno when he was down (which is a common foul that seems to always get looked over), but even then, Steele let Bruno rabbit punch Tyson many many times before finally taking a point away.

Exactly! Taylor wasn't as incoherent or hurt as bad as some in this thread are making it. Taylor was hurt but he got up well before the 8 count & was looking directly at Lou Duva making a commotion. And as soon as Steele called the fight you saw his face shift & change to the ref like WTF. Like what was said earlier Steele ****ed up.

[Run]

And that is one of the most outrageous exaggerations I've ever heard in boxing history

Yeah.......no.

He ultimately paid a huge price with the facial fractures and the fact he had severe kidney damage after the fight.



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[Thread Stealer]

On a side note, I really don't like Taylor's management putting him in there with Terry Norris in 1992.

[ANDROID_DOES]

What exactly is the rule that you think would be bent? The only rule is that the referee can stop a fight anytime he wants. The rest is all judgement, and to stop a fight with a few seconds left is poor judgement, at least in this case.

Who is to say it was a bad judgement. some say it was some say it's not. he's trained in refing fights. He's experienced and that was his judgment. taylor didnt respond to steels questions what was he supposed to do?? if he let that go and said well there was only a few seconds left then he would have been wrong and would have shown favorism. If he lets it go then there's another contraversy in which the chavez camp could claim taylor was out had no idea where he was didnt respond to steels questions as if he was ok and still he let it go. Either way steele would have to answer to debators. He did what he knew what to do as a ref. he let taylor stand up he was looking at taylor straight in the face the whole talking to him asking him questions taylor never responded. all he had to do was nod his head. he couldnt even do that. fight over!

[Scott9945]

Yeah.......no.

He ultimately paid a huge price with the facial fractures and the fact he had severe kidney damage after the fight.

Someone with "severe kidney damage" doesn't get a license to fight in Nevada less than five months later. Common sense would tell you that. Taylor did suffer some facial damage, but not even as bad as what Malinaggi sufferred in the Cotto fight. Did Taylor have any surgery? Was Taylor even in the hospital overnight?

[Ray*]

It was an unfortunate situation.


Lou Duva told Meldrick Taylor that he had to fight for the 12th round even though Taylor was ahead on points. Taylor could have simply coasted the last round but that was not his style...

At the end of the round, Chavez landed a big right hand on Taylor during one of the several punching exchanges and knocked Meldrick down hard on the canvas.

The game Taylor got up quickly and Steele instructed Chavez to the neutral corner.
Looking to end it with his next punch, Chavez did not stay in the corner and Taylor's trainer Lou Duva started yelling at the referee because of this.
Steele did not hear Duva's words but Meldrick Taylor did.

Taylor stared at his trainer Lou Duva while Richard Steele was asking the question 'Are you alright?'.
Taylor did not answer in time and Steele stopped the fight, declaring Julio Cesar Chavez the winner.

It was evident from looking at Taylor's face at the end of the fight that while he had landed the larger amount of clean punches, it was Julio Cesar Chavez who had landed the harder, more effective punches.

Duva and Steele could have done a better job.

K on the way great post, I would rather take this than the ridiculous "Chavez was beating Taylor to a pulp" comments.

[Me La Pelan]

Look at Taylors arms holing the ropes to keep himself standing... Either He was wayyyyy to relaxed and was just chillin or he was hurt and struggling to keep his balance....Any other fight regardless of the "magnitude" and length of it, when a boxer gets knocked down when they get up what do they do??? They stand on their own and put their gloves up to show they are ready to continue...****, besides if Taylor wasn't that hurt then how the hell did he get Knocked down??? Yeah he was looking at the corner.... But Richard was in front of him YELLING the count....what he didn't notice him?He didn't know what he was suposed to do when Steele asked him twice the same question? Steele made the right call , if a fighter can't stand on his own or answer a question as simple as "are you alright" then he should not continue, It doesn't matter if it's 2 seconds into the fight or from the end. can't stand, can't answer, CAN'T FIGHT!

[Ray*]

Yeah.......no.

He ultimately paid a huge price with the facial fractures and the fact he had severe kidney damage after the fight.

Yeah right and he was allowed to box on in his career? People tend to overexagerrate.

[Dirt E Gomez]

I have no problem w/ the stoppage. Would it have been nice for Taylor to win the fight as he should have? Yes. But on the same token, imagine if Chavez manages to land 1 more big shot really quickly? Think of how ****ed up Taylor is today, what if another shot made it even worse?

It's a bummer that the fight ended that way, but the referee isn't a machine or omnipotent. He didn't answer him, game, set, match.

You can claim Taylor was distracted, well that's unfortunate, but doesn't change anything.

[Me La Pelan]

Exactly! Taylor wasn't as incoherent or hurt as bad as some in this thread are making it. Taylor was hurt but he got up well before the 8 count & was looking directly at Lou Duva making a commotion. And as soon as Steele called the fight you saw his face shift & change to the ref like WTF. Like what was said earlier Steele ****ed up.

Everyone knows that getting knocked down could be a lot of different things. There are fighters that are unbalanced and are floored a lot. There are guys that are hurt and get floored, but there are cases (lots) of fighters not getting knocked down but are KO still standing and those are really dangerous, and finally there are guys that get up too fast for their own good (like a reaction) not actually knowing the count or what's going on. I think Taylors demeanor said it all. How could people say he wasn't that hurt do they know all the damage Chavez did to him internally? He was pissing blood for 2 weeks after that fight, that's not even including fractures.