Bad career choice

I realize it’s all hypothetical, but it’s not justifiable to say Louis would’ve fought harder sooner and Conn would been an 11 or 12 round KO victim. Louis doesn’t strike me as the type of guy to sleepwalk with a fighter who was boxing him silly. I’m sure he tried to end things sooner, but it took him 13 rounds to do so.

 

There were rumors of drug abuse during Tucker's extended layoff.

It's true that he never exhibited as good form after he returned in '91.

His movement was severely diminished and his weight was never under 235 lbs again

Lennox Lewis faced a much inferior version of Tony Tucker than did Mike Tyson.

 

He put himself in that position by saying he would fight at 168. If he wouldn't have said that, the fight could have been at a catchweight or 175.

If he didn't feel comfortable or know he couldn't make 168, then he shouldn't of signed. That in the end was his decision, hence bad career choice.

 

The hypotheticals of 15 rounders does intrigue me. One of the fights that is hard to predict for 15 rounds is Chavez-Taylor I. In the view of what actually was happening on the fight, adding 3 rounds would definitely bring about a non controversial KO for Chavez. But if it was originally scheduled for 15 rounds, would Taylor start of slower and box more, turning up his output as the fight went on?

I don't know why it isn't possible in this era. It could be used solely for championship and high profile fights. Fighters do fight far less than they did and weigh-ins are day before not day of.

 

Despite his superb hand speed, Taylor was an old school Philly Fighter through and through. He would’ve fought Chavez the exact same way, whether the fight was scheduled for 12 or 15 rounds. He knew Chavez was going to bring the pressure and he was ready to land 2, 3, 4 punch combinations to combat the tactic. 10 round, non-title fight is the only way Chavez Taylor may have been any different.

 

The Dude abides.

 

I still think Richard Steele knew what time it was and that he needed to stop the fight to protect Chavez’s undefeated record.

 

Even though Chavez is one of my favorite fighters, I have to concur. This, the Whitaker fight and the second Randall fight were shameful.

 

Agreed. Chavez really did show himself to be a sore loser. I remember when I first heard anything about Chavez, he was 49-1. Then he suddenly was undefeated.

I’ll take Sal and Finito over JCC for Mexico’s finest.

 

Some days I choose Finito, other days Slavador, and I do have a slight bias with JCC as well, I grew up watching his fights with my dad's at his friends house, so sentimentality plays a role in it. But today is a Salvador day.

 

I go back and forth on Sal and Finito. Forced to choose, with a gun pointed at my head, it’s Finito for me.

FYI, RJJ is on record stating Sal is his favorite fighter. It’s nice to see real recognize real, despite the fact that their races differ. Some many fans are so blinded by race that it’s sickening.

 

To me they're all boxers no matter what race or country they are from. Talent is talent.

 

It was a terrible deal all around, but he was between a rock and a hard place because he got wrapped up with the wrong people early on in his career. That was the real bad career decision.

Not sure how much real choice Chad had left by that stage in the game.

And, yes, it's ridiculous to imply a TV callout means anything binding. And even if it did, that doesnt explain the rest of the lopsided terms- all of which heavily favored Ward.
His team sold him out, point blank.

What is on him is that that was his team, but they have deep connections in the northeast (thus Demetrius Andrade's goofy career direction).

 

Good points. He could have lobbied for a Pascal rematch, but I think with Ward clearing the SMW division he thought he could entice him up to LHW. Either way very bad career choices both in team and signing to fight at 168.