Meldrick taylor survives the 12th, gets decision...then what?

Good question.

 

I think it was MT firing back effectively that prevented Steele from stopping it even though he wanted to.
In fact, he was still firing back just before he hit the canvass.

 

He wasn't ruined after that fight. It's a popular misconception to justify the stoppage as being legit. Whether it was legit or not I won't get into, but that fact remains, MT could've/should've won that fight and wasn't ruined after it

 

I agree. He was up at the count of six and nodded his head when steele asked him if he was okay.. Granted he looked terrible and if they were still in say the 9th or 10 round then I could understand the stoppage. But with only seconds to go in the bout Steele should have given him his chance. Of course I realize ( as steele said himself ) that the referee isn't the time keeper, but given that he had reffed so many fights in his life and the 12th had been going on for a while he should have been able to gauge that he bout was coming to a close.

 

Taylor took so much punishment. Not just that last brutal barrage ending with that overhand right which sat him down. It was a constant pounding inside of those short, accurate hooks and uppercuts by Chavez. His eye socket was broken along with swallowing some of his own blood throughout the fight. I think it`s clear this fight did diminish him a good deal. I don`t know if ruined is totally accurate because he had enough left to win a belt over Aaron Davis at `47. The truth is Meldrick Taylor never looked the same again after he fought Chavez. He was getting decked by guys like Glenwood Brown and later Espana.

 

Little difference because win or loose he took a carer shortening beating.

 

The Espana fight came just five months after the thrashing from Norris. I don't think the Chavez loss had so much to do with his performance in that fight. Glenwood Brown was a pretty damn good fighter and again that was in a higher weight class. Meldrick Looked spectacular in outboxing Aron Davis a year after losing the Chavez fight.

 

I think Steele made the right call, his priority has always to be the fighters welfare, he isn't the timekeeper.

 

Taylor suffered a broken eye socket, broken ribs, badly busted up face, had a lot of blood pumped from his stomach, was ****ing blood for weeks and was in hospital for almost 2 weeks following the fight. :hi:

 

Agreed, but did Taylor really look that? He got up relatively quickly and even nodded his head at Steele. Duva jumping on the mat and distracted MT, but why couldn't Steele see that is what happened when he was right there, instead of taking the MT looking away and at Duva as a sign he wasn't able to continue? Why would you take that logical leap, when the obviousness of Duva yelling up on the mat was what distracted MT, not that he couldn't continue. He nodded his head just prior to that. Let's not forget the other means in which Don King tried to keep Chavez' unbeaten streak alive, and we also shouldn't forget Steele in other fights Don King was apart of with some weird decisions. To me, the fight should've been allowed to continue and given MT a chance to survive it imo.

 

Those were exaggerations of his injuries, but let's say everything you said was correct, that doesn't mean it ruined him. That is the issue we're discussing here, not how many injuries he had. If somebody had worse injuries, brain swelling etc etc... was told never to fight again and he was ruined ruined.. yet he goes on to win a title after. Why would I say he's ruined, when we have proof other wise. Show me ANY proof that weighs more and counts for more than MT winning a title after Chavez that indicates he wasn't ruined. Show me proof more substantial than that saying he was. I don't want his medical report, I was proof he was ruined after.

 

Chavez won Taylor lost deal with it.

 

Do you think the Norris fight diminished him?

 

No question about it.

 

Thanks for your contribution.