Chavez v Taylor Re-match 1991

I think Chavez beats him worse, Taylor fought the perfect fight in the first one any change would see him losing. Plus his confidence would have been crushed from that first fight.

 

Taylor would have had a good chance if they had fought in early 1991...
Chavez was exposed very badly in the first fight... but his bruising style always gives him a chance.
Taylor by SD

 

I became a boxing fan 20 years ago. I may have like the sport somewhat before, and liked the Rocky movies, but I started following the sport on July 21, 1989. I was a 12 year boy watching Mike Tyson against Carl Williams.

Taylor and Chavez faced each other shortly after Douglas dismantled Tyson in Tokyo.

Going in, I was a Taylor fan. Even then I wanted the fighter with the lesser chance to prevail. Taylor performed brilliantly. It was heart breaking for me to witness the right hand Chavez landed on Taylor just before the final bell. The stopping of the fight hurt even more so. I felt that a great injustice had occurred.

I even felt a bitterness for the first Chavez vs Taylor fight well into early adulthood. I remember hearing someone say, "Taylor was never the same after that. Chavez ruined him." I quickly pointed out that Taylor won a welterweight title afterward, and that was something Chavez could not do.

I have since gone on to view the fight differently. I don't have the same sort of allegiance to any particular fighter, and can view it with an open mind. Taylor did not respond to the referee. I began to appreciate what Chavez did. Chavez kept pressing until he vanquished an opponent that seemed destined to win.

There is now some give and take, and that plays almost like a draw in my mind.

Chavez has always claimed to take an open mind into a fight, and let his strategy develop along the course. If facing Taylor in a rematch, I think he would have already felt Taylor out. Chavez would know just how to begin.

I think an immediate return bout would have been more competitive than the actual rematch, but I don't see a different result. I think Chavez would start pressing earlier, and only be a couple rounds down when he stops Taylor around the 9th.

 

No. Chavez broke his body and his spirit. I know Taylor went on to win another title, but truthfully he was never the same after the Chavez bout.

Chavez wins again, this time with less drama.

 

After their initial matchup, Taylor was damaged goods.Chavez would probably stop him between six and nine rounds.

 

Wow, do people really watch boxing or spew propaganda that has been thrown around for ages and accept it as truth??? Taylor's confidence shot???? Taylor not the same afterwards??? Almost a year after this fight Taylor gave what I would call the greatest performance of his career in his fight agains Davis.

Taylor was ready for the move up in weight, as he could no longer shed it without fatigue in the later rounds that Chavez was able to captilize on. He begged for an immediate rematch at 148 but Chavez either did not want the fight or did not feel comfortable with jumping up to the next division or someother management type of decision.

Taylor fight cautious??? I highly doubt that!!!! Taylor was Philly through and through and wanted to be known as a warrior....The down side was he never had the pop in his punch to allow him to achieve all time greatness with that approach and not having the punch accompany that style. As he moved up in weight his already mediocre power became less of a threat as well. It was when he could not get that Chavez rematch or any other major payday opponent that he or his team made the miscalculation of thinking that he could jump to LMW and and be competitive against Norris. He was competitive for 1 round...but even then it was clear that his decided speed advantage was not enough. he had no power to keep Norris honest, and Norris took away the last threads of meldricks prime...it was at that point that Meldrick was no longer the same.

I am not sure what would have happened had Chavez agreed to move up in weight and rematch taylor immediately. I would imagine a fairly similar fight where Meldrick would take the early advantage and Chavez would storm on late to make for a close decision or the possible repeat stoppage...being a Philly boy I will lean towards a Taylor decision....although with Don King it was very difficult to get a fair shake on the cards against Chavez in those days! JMHO

 

Taylor over-performed & Chavez under-performed in all honestly, Chavez wins clearer any other time.

Taylor will always start faster but Chavez will always catch up to him :deal

 

Regardless of how the last two seconds played out. The fight took a lot out of Taylor.

 

No I think Chavez gets going earlier and stops him sooner, I don't think Taylor could box defensive enough to neutralise Chavez, he was too aggressive with too many openings and that was his downfall. If he could fight a similar fight to Whitaker then he could win but there's no evidence he could do that. If he got a trainer who was a master of defence and spoiling, like maybe Benton, then perhaps he pulls it off

 

This is the bottom line. The second fight was pretty much proof of that because both were older and Chavez beat him easy.

 

Chavez ruined a part of Taylor in the first fight. That part was never coming back.

 

Chavez was exposed?

Look at Taylor`s face after the fight. It looked like he was run over by a pickup truck.

The myth that Taylor somehow dominated Chavez is the fault of HBO`s incompetent cheerleading crew of Lampley, Merchant and Ledermen.

Yes Taylor landed alot of punches but he was getting the worst of it in the exchanges throughout the fight. Julio didnt just land a late lucky punch. He was hurting Taylor throughout that fight with bone jarring inside punches.

Julio Cesar Chavez destroyed that kid. Its sad because the immediate damage to Taylor was evident. I was Meldrick Taylor fan. Not only didnt he ever fight the same again he never talked quite the same. He was damaged.

Rematch in `91 would have been similar to what happened later. Remember in `94 Chavez wasnnt the same fighter anymore either.

Chavez mid round probably TKO.

 

This is exactly it. Thats why a fight with Julio would always turn out bad for Meldrick. He needed a little more defense and ring smarts.

Running up to 147 to avoid a Chavez rematch was a mistake as well. He was too short for that weight without an extra tight defense. SweetPea was able to move up but he brought some defense with him.

At the end of the day Taylor took the Chavez rematch when he was desperate and had nothing to lose. His career was already about over.