Had the ref not stopped the fight...

[The Scientist]

It was very controversial, but had the ref not stopped the fight, would Meldrick Taylor been able to beat Julio Cesar Chavez in their first fight?

He was boxing beautifully against Chavez, counter punching, rolling, weaving...until Chavez had a brief moment of shine, then the ref stops it right before the end of the bout....what do you folks think??

[LoloChivas]

If it went on points its abvious taylor would have won on points..but chavez knock him out inside 36 mims of fight time..

[T-97]

Chavez didn't have a 'brief moment of shine', he was beating Taylor badly in the last few rounds of the fight, and Steele said he had considered stopping the fight before he did but found no perfect time to do so. Then when he found a time, he did, no realising there was little time in the last round left.

However, if it had gone on, Taylor would have won a UD. There wasn't enough time left for JCC to finish Taylor.

[Sage84]

I think it was one of the worst stoppages ever! I felt so sorry for Taylor. There was about 3 seconds left wasnt there

[Sugarj]

Still, he was never the same fighter afterwards. Chavez ruined him, not Steele. Even if Steele had not stopped the fight and Taylor had got the decision he would have lost the rematch, he left a bit of himself in the ring that night.

That said some of his combination work early in the fight was stunning!

[Ian_ST24i]

I've got this fight on DVD. Steele said he asked Taylor 'are you ok?' as he beat the count - he got no response, so he stopped it.

He should have took into consideration A) that Taylor was well ahead on points and B) it was a unification bout between two greats of modern boxing.

This fight was one of the best of the 90's. I don't think Chavez was prepared for how good Taylor fought that night. His handspeed and footwork were unbelievable.

Steele should perhaps have given Taylor the chance to ride out what was left of the round. And Taylor would have won on points. But Steele did it 'by the book', so you can't really blame him...

Chavez proved he was the man in the rematch.

[ACHlLLES]

Taylor couldn't hurt Chavez, but probably should have won by points... I think Chavez gave Taylor brain-damage from that fight since in the rematch Taylor didn't even have great combos like he did in the first fight

[Eric Holder]

Chavez ruined Taylor in this fight,

Meldrick left everything in the ring he was never the same afterwords

[The Scientist]

Chavez didn't have a 'brief moment of shine', he was beating Taylor badly in the last few rounds of the fight, and Steele said he had considered stopping the fight before he did but found no perfect time to do so. Then when he found a time, he did, no realising there was little time in the last round left.

However, if it had gone on, Taylor would have won a UD. There wasn't enough time left for JCC to finish Taylor.

Yeah, don't get it twisted, Chavez was goring him pretty bad prompting Taylor to go to the Hospital for a few weeks, but what I meant about that brief moment of shine were the last set of actions taken by Chavez that encouraged Steele to stop the fight with several second left in the last round. Taylor even gave the ref a nod signaling that he was still stable enough to finish.

[-Hyperion-]

well honestly steele did the by the book approach....he asked are you ok???.....and taylor for whatever reason didnt respond...end of.....

but yeah taylor wouldve won an SD....(chuck garabage judge giampa had chavez winning)