Meldrick Taylor vs. Howard Davis. This fight is a neglected part of Taylors career given his future achievements and "that" fight against Chavez but it kicked up quite a lot of controversy at the time. Howard Davis was the 1976 Olympic Lightweight gold medalist and winner of the Val Barker trophy for the outstanding boxer of The Games. He'd narrowly lost both his world title challenges on points, one to Scotlands Jim Watt and the other to the power punching Puerto Rican Edwin Rosario. At age 30 he was thought to be talented but past his best and no more that an interesting test for the unbeaten prospect and 1984 Olympic gold medalist, 19 year old Meldrick Taylor. Amid discussions over which was the better Olympic team, the 1976 squad with Davis, Sugar Ray Leonard and the Spinks bothers or the class of '84 that included Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, Mark Breland and Evander Holyfield, the two fighters met on 16th August 1986 for a fight fittingly billed as "Gold vs. Gold"...... [yt]gqRdRasj_d0[/yt] [yt]wzPxdVbKhUM[/yt] [yt]XQeh_LGg6Yw[/yt] The ultimate "crossroads" fight?
Hey! Nice add. This is a good fight. I either had this a draw or Meldrick edging it. More was expected of Davis, but he did have some good efforts. This one. He had Rosario beat until the last round knockdown.
I taped that fight off the boob-tube in '86..... Taylor was green at age 19 or so, while Davis was already 30..... It was close, but age was a factor..... Taylor would go on and beat Bud McGirt for the belt at 140, but not before Davis would get a last title shot at McGirt and end up being waxed in one round...... MR.BILL
I remember this fight and i thought it was very close. I think Davis should have got it but it was no robbery. I dont have a big argument with the draw. I was pretty young when th 76 olympics were going although i do remember all the hoopla that went with that team and was already a fan to see them come up. i remember my pops saying that Davis was gonna be better than Leonar(nOT!!!). Taylor learned alot from this fight and actually improved from a talented prospect to an Elite world class fighter after this fight.
Howard Davis was one of the best amateurs that I have ever seen, right up there with Mark Breyland and SRL and a few others. His pro career was a case of not changing or added the right element to his corner. Howard was one who tried to replicate the style of Ali and his leaning back caused him problems in other fights. I though he beat Meldrick here
We're scoring it over on the Brit forum. Your opinion on the fight would be much appreciated in the thread below......:good http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242273
I thought it was a legit draw, Davis had enough skill to sucessfully keep Taylor off a little, and Taylor made it a good effort to keep at Howard.
Could have gone either way, but I had Mel by a point. I actually had his fight with Brazier a draw though.
Just re-watched this. Hate to do it, but scored it a draw. I had Davis up by a point going in to the last round. He tried to run out the clock a bit in the 10th and then steal it at the end but I thought Meldrick took the round. Very good fight.
