Greater/Better: Monzon or Chavez

I discredit it somewhat because I don't believe Steele would've had the same attitude if it was Chavez being dropped in the last round of a fight he was well ahead in.

 

Steele was seeing firsthand the damage Chavez was doing over the rounds. This was proven out over Taylor's remaining fights. Taylor was winning the battles. Chavez was winning the war.

 

Chavez

 

Regardless if it was Chavez in Taylor's shoes I don't think Steele would've stopped it.

 

@Dynamicpuncher discredits Chavez's win over Taylor because the referee stopped it with seconds remaining, but he affords Chris Byrd full credit for beating Vitali Klitschko.

Interesting.

 

Thats your opinion and thats fine. But the fact that so many people disagree and its such a hotly debated topic hurts Chavez's historical standing since there are other fighters that dont have those kinds of blemishes on their record that can be used against them.

 

Why would Taylor I be a blemish on Chavez's legacy? He beat the stuffing out of Taylor who was half dead at the time of the stoppage.

 

I would argue that Chavez was just as dominant at 140lbs ….as Monzon was at 160lbs

 

prime for prime ? Or could this be another example of a fighter who retired at the right time…being held in higher regard than a fighter who didn’t

 

Hector Camacho is just as good a fighter as Rodrigo Valdez ….and he’s a lot better than Hugo Corro …who beat Valdez …if Hector Camacho and Rodrigo Valdez were the same size…Camacho would beat him

 

I see it cut and dry that Steele did the right thing. I don't even see the debate. And again, Taylor's condition afterwards and onwards only validates that point. Don't want to get stopped? Don't get beat to a pulp so that you swallow a liter of blood and don't get your orbital smashed to fragments. That didn't all happen in the 12th. The was the damage he was slowly but significantly accumulating over the rounds.

Then again, there is the reality that if you fight professionally 115 times a lot of weird stuff happens.

 

Monzon

 

Napoles actually pursued the fight with Monzon and his trainer Angelo Dundee was confident that Napoles would win easily. At the time boxing pundits and experts were also favoring Napoles to win and beat Monzon handily. Even though he was smaller Napoles had the boxing finesse and style that most people thought would be enough to beat the slower, unimpressive looking Monzon. That alone tells you how highly viewed Napoles was seen. Not many people thought the fight would end up being one sided.

Despite the size discrepancy when you take into account on how highly rated Napoles was at the time who was favored to win and how Monzon was able to beat him as easily as he did it’s a win thats should still considered a great win IMO. That was one of the fights that helped solidify Monzon’s greatness.

 

I mean prime for prime - I think Monzon was a better MW than Chavez was in any single weight class he fought in, but Chavez's dominance across multiple weight classes makes comparing their legacies more debatable.

 

Thats just your own opinion man. Try to understand that you live in a world with other people in it.