There is an image of Meldrick Taylor that is haunting. It’s not of him falling from a right hand thrown by Julio Cesar Chavez and being stopped with two seconds remaining in their classic encounter. It’s not a selected image of any bout that came afterwards as this once great fighter quickly fell to pieces in the ring in subsequent fights. It’s not even a recent image of a man whose mind is clouded and whose mouth seems stuffed with cotton when he speaks. It is an image of man, a fighter, teetering on the precipice of tragedy. He sits, slippers on his feet, and stares at the television set watching himself stumble to his feet against Chavez, only to have referee Richard Steele steal away his moment of glory. He freezes the picture with his remote control, his eyes far away, and then he rewinds the tape and watches it all over again. He watches his life come apart in seconds on the television screen. When he’s had his fill, he turns the television off and rests his head in his hands.
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