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

Yes. I think that was the final blow that ruined him. He never did anything of note again after that. Listening to him talking to Larry Merchant moments after the fight was over you heard the voice and words of a man who sounded thoroughly crushed.

 

A good question would be, if Taylor had never fought chavez how would his career have panned out. Would he have had a longer more successful one? Would he have defeated norris? If he'd have met chavez later on a few years down the line could he have had more chance of defeating him then? I just believe that the jcc took to much out of meldrick and he was never going to recover from that beating.

 

The problem with Meldric was that he did not take advantage of his naturally almost supernatural speed by boxing from the outside, sticking and moving and picking his shots. Instead, he exposed himself to unnecessary counterpunches and paid the horrendous price that he did against a person whose head seemed as if made of steel. [no pun intended]

BTW

Notice that Chavez only had a slight scratch on the bridge of his nose after the fight. Once during an interview on the Sabado Grande Show on Univision, Chavez even began arguing that he didn't believe in brain damage due to boxing. Seems like the blows to his head at that stage in his career seemed insignificant.

I once saw this soccer game in which a two hundred pound Anglo American player was knocked out cold when he collided head to head with this small Mexican. He had to be taken to the emergency room and the little Mexican kept playing as if nothing had happened. WEIRD!

 

He actually did recover though bud, he recovered so well in fact that he won a world title.

 

Looked awesome against Davis a fighter I didn't think he would beat after Davis had beaten Breland .really impressive performance "Whirlwind Taylor " was the headline in boxing news at the time.could of done better if he had stayed at welterweight the decision to fight Norris was maddness I couldn't believe it at the time Norris was as fast as Taylor an excellent boxer and hit much harder.That's the fight that ruined Taylor.

 

Yer that I get that mate, I meant in later life when he was showing signs of brain injury. I no u can't pin that alone on the chav fight but should imagine it went a long way to starting it off.

 

Oh yeah, I'm sure that certainly contributed to his state later in life. Very true.

 

I'll tell you something for nothing if Taylor had rematched Chavez right away his speech would be even worse today, in fact he may not even be alive.

 

Not much about the rest of his career would have changed.

Taylor moved up to 147 right after this, saying he had trouble making 140. It's believable since he had that stocky frame.

A year after Chavez, he beats Aaron Davis for the WBA 147 lb. title and looks pretty impressive. 2nd best win of his career. The punishment from Chavez and other fights (and probably a lot of Philly gym wars) is adding up, and his performance is starting to decline. He shows again signs of slippage against Glenwood Brown, but fights hard and his speed, activity and body attack win it for him. Duva and Taylor's team probably see what's coming, so they cash out on him and have him move up to fight Terry Norris. Predictably, Norris stops Taylor. Taylor fights his mandatory, Cristano Espana, a tall and rangy skilled boxer, and he stops Taylor.

If Taylor got the win over Chavez, or even if he didn't fight Chavez, he was in for a tough time at WW. Espana would have been a nightmare style matchup for Taylor regardless. Pernell Whitaker moved up to WW in 1993 to fight Buddy McGirt for the WBC title. Felix Trinidad rised on the scene and destroyed Maurice Blocker in 1993 for the IBF title. Ike Quartey beat Espana in 1994 for the WBA title.

With this talent level surrounding him, Taylor's lack of size, his modest power, and tendency to trade, Taylor was going to have a short stay at the top. Whitaker, Trinidad, Quartey, Simon Brown, Espana, Blocker...that's a very impressive list of WWs. The only way to avoid a short stay as champion would be to handpick modest opposition for Taylor.

 

I think it was bound to happen, sadly. Chavez just sped it up. I can only imagine how many blows to the head he sustained in Philly gym wars over the years in addition to all those professional bouts.