Fight of the Week #9: Chavez v. Taylor & Whitaker

Chavez won rd3 10-9 for me against Taylor.

 

Yeah, he's terrible. If the sign of a good ref is that you don't notice him when there's nothing for him to do, then he is not a good ref.

 

I've watched that fight sooooo many times. At this point, knowing how it ends, I might have Chavez pitching a shutout in appreciation for how the work he does round by round plays out in the long run.

 

Great fight. No clinching, no fouling, just punching by both men. It is the best of boxing. Why we watch.

HBO commentary took bias to a new level. Bias for Taylor.

 

Interesting to hear Judge Mickey Vann explain the decision on Whitaker vs Chavez

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I kind of agree about the power of the punches being thrown by JCC. The thing I will add is when Meldrick was winning rounds there were usually 3-5 punches where Taylor’s head would snap back. He (Chavez) did a good job with balance and punching through rather than to, if that makes sense. I don’t think he got much torque in a lot of them but good leverage and placement. Meldrick would swell after fights but nothing like he looked after this one that I recall

 

In the last 10 seconds of Round 2 Chavez fractured Taylor's left orbital bone. Ten more rounds of pounding on that fracture didn't help things.

 

Chavez v Taylor

Here's how I had it (including scoring the final round):

1 09-10 (close)
2 09-10
3 10-09 (v close)
4 09-10 (close)
5 09-10
6 09-10
7 10-09 (v close)
8 09-10
9 09-10
10 10-09 (close)
11 09-10
12 10-08 (TKO win Chavez)

Chavez 112-115 Taylor

I had Taylor by 8 rounds to 4 with the final round obviously a 10-08 had Richard Steele not stopped the fight.

It's hard not to feel sorry for Taylor regardless of whether you think the stoppage was the right call.

 

The rematch

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Very similar to their first fight; Taylor looks fast early on, Chavez gradually grinds him down. Apart from the point deductions for low blows, Taylor was doing well until he went toe-to-toe with Julio in Round 6 (fantastic round). After that his goose was cooked.

 

Chavez vs Taylor stoppage was legit, Taylor wasn't answering the referee when asked two times if he was ok, later he was lying that he answered him he was ok, despite camera being a couple of inches behind them when referee was asking him if he was alright not once but twice, without Taylor answering him. It's on the camera.

Now with Whitaker fight, Withaker won it, but here's the thing: I scored Chavez - Whitaker only 7-5 in Whitaker's favor, due to many rounds where he was making Chavez miss a lot but also landing less than Chavez in the same rounds. The point is I still had it for Whitaker, but much closer and nowhere near the robbery of the century.

 

That's the thing, that's just how american boxing medias painted it.

 

Going into the 12th round
I had it 4-4-3
Some of the rounds were extremely close...
And Meldrick was eating a lot of leather on the inside as well as being hit with almost every right cross Chavez through at him.... And to be honest even if had went to the scorecards, I would've had Chavez winning, With the knockdown sealing the deal for the victory had Richard Steele had not stopped the fight with 2 seconds remaining.

 

It's inconceivable to me that anybody could have Chavez vs. Taylor as anything close going into the 12th round. If you did, you were looking for all these punches that must've practically killed Taylor the way people talk about how bad he was (he wasn't close to that bad). It's like your looking to support a narrative they've always heard... it had to be stopped or else....