this thread was done a few months ago. He pretty much had to fight him. It was a super fight in demand. If he didn't take the fight, the public would have given him a hard time like they did Mayweather when he didn't fight Pacquaio for a long time. If he didn't fight Chavez, he probably would have moved up to 147 a bit earlier and won a title. His style was such that he wouldn't have had too much longer a prime, but without the punishment he received against Chavez, it would have lasted a bit longer.
Not much different. A little longer stay at the top, but much more of a shooting star than someone who stays at the elite level for a long time
It really makes me laugh how people say Taylor was dominating this fight yet he was having about 3 ice packs pressed against his face between virtually ever round LOL.
Sweet.. There are sadly a lot of folks out there and on this board that think Taylor was Robbed:-(, or there was a conspiracy against him:| I've watched the ending of this fight about 100 times and each time Steele is screaming in Taylor's face ARE YOU ALRIGHT? and each and every time Taylor just stands there with empty eyes, a stand up corpse who can't talk:deal.. His own damn fault he lost, you gotta give the ref an answer !!
He would have no choice he would HAVE to fight him, or go thru his career known as a coward with no B@lls.. Personally i was elated they fought because they gave the fans a great show, and Chavez whipped his ass 2X:good
the Chavez camp / Richard steel should have sued hbo for legendary nights ... that **** was a farce I watch the fight Chavez wasn't landing nearly as much but he was landing so so so hard .. taylor was taking the shots like a stud though a lesser man would have fell much earlier Chavez took that mans soul that night
I guess the future of his career depends on how badly he was actually damaged by the Chavez affair and how he might have proceeded had he not sustained that damage. My guess is that he could have gone on being an IBF champion for a while perhaps even had some success at welter ( which in truth he did. ) but without a signature fight like the one he had against Julio, fading into obscurity would have been inevitable.
