i really have alot of praise for both fighters as far as their incredable boxing ability which i believe they both have physical gifts that are on par with the likes of roy jones, floyd mayweather and mike tyson. breland was the natural welterweight but taylor proved his boxing quality by beating aaron davis who just knocked out mark breland six months before. to me this would have been the world class talent at one of its higher moments.
Mark Breland was an amazing talent, his amatuer career was superior to that of leonard, ali, etc. He deserved the hype to become the next robinson due to his amatuer pedigree and there is no doubt he had amazing skills, its just unfortunate that his chin sucked. He was winning the fights against aaron davis and starling before they caught him.
Taylor was never the same fighter at 147 that he had once been at 140. Breland sadly never lived up to the hype thrown at him, but he was still a solid champion in a fair era of his division. But for a Superman performance we may of had the match up, I would of put my pennies on a post StarlingI Breland against a post ChavezI Taylor.
I'd actually go with Taylor on this one. While Chavez undeniably put a huge dent in Meldrick, I don't think that he was finished, as evidenced by his brilliant performance against Aaron Davis. The one who finished Meldrick Taylor off IMO, was Terry Norris.
Either man has a chance. But I didn't like Taylor as much after he left Jr. Welter. The higher he went in weight the more he diminished. Breland was a natural welter, and a taller harder punching type that fit the bill of someone who could have given Taylor problems.
I think breland takes this one. Style-wise Brelands, height, reach, good solid jab and strong right hand would be enough to keep tayor at long range and allow him to earn a clear ud.
I don't think too much of Breland, but I think that he would beat taylor, maybe even stop him. Taylor wasn't much good at getting in close against guys that didn't let him get close, and he got hit a lot. What he had, really all he had, was heart and fast hands. Breland could keep him at a distance with that long left hand, and rake him with the right.
