Meldrick Taylor vs Julio Cesar Chavez: Right Call or Not?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Bill1234, Oct 24, 2009.


  1. Bill1234

    Bill1234 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Did Richard Steele make the right call in stopping the fight, or should he have let Meldrick continue?
     
  2. bodhi

    bodhi Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    I think so. Yeah, there were only six secs left but one punch by JCC could have been too much. Look what happened to Parret.

    Savety first!
     
  3. Bill Butcher

    Bill Butcher Erik`El Terrible`Morales Full Member

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    Right call, ref doesnt know the time & Taylor was done, the real winner would have been robbed if the bell saved Taylor, Chavez beat him beyond repair, why should a few seconds give Taylor a fake win ?
     
  4. Bill1234

    Bill1234 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    The red lights on the corner posts were blinking 2 feet in front of Steele, Richard knew there were less than 10 seconds left in the fight.

    I think it was a bad call. Chavez couldn't have made it to Taylor in time.
     
  5. rekcutnevets

    rekcutnevets Black Sash Full Member

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    You can make a sound argument either way.

    There were only two seconds left in the round, and Meldrick beat the count. If Steele wiped his gloves on his shirt and signaled for the fight to continue the bell would have sounded to end the fight. It would have gone to the scorecards, and Taylor would have won a split decision. Many people may have started bickering about 12 round fights being too short for championships, and how Taylor would've never made it to 15. I doubt there would be any controversy.

    Steele did ask Taylor if he was ok, and got no response. Is a fighter than doesn't answer you ok to fight on? Non responsive fighters are normally stopped. Should Chavez be penalized for being behind on the cards before rendering his opponent non responsive inside the distance? It's similar to a runner leading most of a race only to give out, and lose, just before crossing the finish line. Heart breaking does not always equate to being unjust.

    Flip a coin and take a side. I don't see anyone proving you wrong.
     
  6. Seamus

    Seamus Proud Kulak Full Member

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    Perhaps the most tired subject in the last 20 years.

    If Meldrick felt he was treated unjustly, line up another fight immediately against Chavez. That's what Tunney, Louis, Greb, Robinson... all the old timey's did. But then again, Chavez destroyed him physically. And we all know what happened when he did get his second chance.
     
  7. ripcity

    ripcity Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    hindsight is 20/20. It was a judgment call. I don't know what decision I would have made if it was me in that instant. I think if I saw the replay after the fact I may fell that it would have been ok to let the fight go on.
     
  8. cotto20

    cotto20 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    No it was a terrible call by steele, taylor got his win taken away from him! and his soul
     
  9. Addie

    Addie Myung Woo Yuh! Full Member

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    I don't know. It was a judgment call, but Steele did have a notoriously good relationship with Julio Cesar Chavez's promoter, Don King. In any event, Chavez landed a peach of a right hand that surely finished Taylor, and had the fight been 15 rounds or even 15 seconds longer - Taylor gets stopped. I have no problem with the call, but it's a shame how Taylor's career would go on from here on.
     
  10. Seamus

    Seamus Proud Kulak Full Member

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    Steele's stoppage did not crush Taylor's career. Chavez, Norris and Espana crushed Taylor's career. This is a distinction that many people get wrong.
     
  11. cotto20

    cotto20 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    No taylor lost his heart and soul for fighting once steel robbed him of his win, after that he just went through the motions and was still good enough to win another world title but was know were close to the fighter who stepped in the ring against chavez in 1990
     
  12. TBooze

    TBooze Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    The referee is not the timekeeper, if the ref believes a fighter is unable to continue, it does not matter if there is three seconds, or three rounds left, he stops the fight.

    The main reason this still causes such a fuss, is because we all put our supposed smart money on Taylor, because anyone in the know, knew this fight was going to be hell for the great J C Superstar...
     
  13. Bill1234

    Bill1234 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    I'm not choosing sides yet, I just mentioned that Richard Steele did, infact, know there was less than 10 seconds left in the fight.
     
  14. Thread Stealer

    Thread Stealer Loyal Member Full Member

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    He still had the desire and fought hard in his fights, but physically the punishment was adding up.

    Not only from the punishment in his actual fights, but I can definitely picture him as a Philly gym war type of guy too.

    Putting him in there with Norris was bad management IMO.

    Given his style, weight problems at 140, and talent level at 147, I doubt he'd have anything other than a short stay at the top anyway, unless he was protected.
     
  15. JohnThomas1

    JohnThomas1 VIP Member

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    It was a perfect stoppage as discussed 1 000 000 times before. All Taylor had to do was answer the man one of the times and he's fine. Dickhead Duva didn't help.