The fight that greatness was answered: Arguably the greatest finish in the last 50 years. The night Chavez showed he was probably the greatest Mexican boxer ever. And Taylor fell two seconds short of greatness. Even the referee had a legacy from this fight: As all the 'insiders' who bet on the underdog Taylor never forgave and from that moment on Steele was booed whenever he was announced! Any other thoughts?
Holy **** I can't even believe it's been that long, a quarter century just flew by:| I remember rooting hard for Chavez, I never liked Taylor, Chavez needed only 8 rounds to get him outta there in the rematch:yep.. The only ones that point the finger at Steele don't know squat about boxing, It's not the refs job to play timekeeper, and Steele was screaming at Taylor ARE YOU OK, and Taylor just stood there with some dumb look on his face, you don't comply with the ref that's your fault:deal Chavez beat Taylor so bad, he had broken bones in his grill, was ****ing blood and spent time n the hospital, Taylor lacked the mojo to beat Julio:good:happy
Great fight, but i didn't think it was an overly impressive performance from Chavez, more of a workmanlike grind than anything spectacular.Certainly not in the context of something that could make him the best Mexican ever.It's the kind of fight you watch and think "Duran at his best would have smashed **** out this guy". Taylor was very talented in some narrow aspects of the sport-handspeed, combination punching and he had good balance-but he was very flawed as well.Poor ring general, featherfisted, not really all that skilled or with much depth to his style. The olympic pedigree and beating a McGirt with inner ear problems saw him get a bit overhyped imo. still, a great fight and Chavez taking on a legit threat, something he did very little of for the next few years until the Pea bout finally got made.
I would agree, I thought at the time Chavez had peaked by then (MayweatherII showed that), and hindsight suggests it got no better for Julio than when he beat Rosario. But the context of the victory, and the magnitude of the fight are what adds to Chavez's resume and turned an excellent fighter into a Great one. A fighter who from that moment on had a legitimate argument as to why he is Mexico's finest.
I'm sorry, but when you're being beaten convincingly and well behind on points going into the last round... I can hardly call that his best performance or even a defining one. I'm not going to argue whether the stoppage was legit. I think if a fighting can't continue he can't continue regardless of how much time is left. That said, Chavez had NO time to finish off taylor with the amount of time left in the fight. That's just a fact that we now know, that the ref had no idea about (which is why it was stopped) Yet, since we know he didn't have time and Taylor wasn't so far gone that he couldn't stand. He would've made it. Point is, this kinda of fight where you are being soundly beaten and well beyond on points and getting a lucky break can hardly be considered his finest hour.
I was 15 years old watching that fight live on HBO.. At first I wanted Chavez to win, but cheered for Taylor as the fight went on. Disappointed how it ended.
what were the scorecards going into the final round? I was rooting for Meldrick so bad... but Chavez was laying a major beating on Meldrick the last 3 or so rounds...one that Taylor never recovered from
Great fight, bad commentary from hbo. this was a close fight, but they were giving Chavez no credit for his work throughout. It was only when they noticed the state of taylors face that they realized Chavez had been beating his man up. It was such a great clash of styles with unbelievable handspeed and talent from taylor matched with unbelievable defence and infighting by Chavez. Both gave everything and Chavez showed a champions heart proving he could turn the tide and do the impossible. I had Chavez 1 round down going into the 12th needing a knockdown at least to retain his title which of course he got. the stoppage was fair, taylor was beaten and didn't answer the referee, the only controversy was the time left. the official clock stopped at 2:58 but it ran on a little. Look at the replay, there would've been about 5 seconds left for Chavez to tee off on a defenceless man. not enough time? look what don curry did to Milton mcrory in 2 seconds following the first knockdown. The controversy just adds to the legacy of the fight anyway. To turn it all upside down and snatch victory from defeat with 2 seconds to go, it really doesn't get any closer than that.
:deal It was no one's fault except Taylor's he didn't respond to Steele. It wasn't as if Richard was whispering to him. He was right in his face shouting at the guy.
It's Taylor's fault for not responding to Steele.If you consider this Chavez's greatest fight then damn I don't know. Taylor was winning that fight hands down. Chavez was given a few gifts in his career!!!!
Great fight, but overrated IMO....Except for the ending. Great performance from Taylor, but he also took a helacious beating. You could really make an argument either way regards the ending. I mean, If Steele hadn't waved the fight off, Chavez couldn't have pulled a gun & shot him in 2 seconds, never mind inflicted more damage. However, Taylor really was in a bad way & he was never the same again.
Steele would NEVER have stopped this fight had the roles been reversed and it was Taylor that had clawed his way back into the fight, but still absolutely needed a stoppage in those last few seconds to be sure of the win. That's what bothers me about it rather than the fact i feel it was an unjustifiable stoppage...it was an arguable, but ultimately reasonable choice to stop it. But protecting the money maker for King was the real concern here.
