Meldrick Taylor vs Arturo Gatti @ 140?

The Ivan Robinson fights were very fun fights but you have to look at the time period of those fights: Gatti was in a slump and everyone knows that.
Too many hard fights back to back and at that time it took its toll.

 

Gatti was a known bleeder, I think it was larry Merchant that said once that he wouldent be surprised if Gatti stepped in the ring before the fight and would be already bleeding.
I can see the fight being stopped by Gatti's being cut up.

 

Taylor for all his speed had a terrible defense. I watched him from start to finish and he was alot easier to hit then he should have been.
I think Benton tried at one point to get him to stop trading as much but was not successful.
Look at all the shots Chavez landed on him in a fight where at times Taylor was absolutely dominant.

 

I don't think he was in a slump, he just got beat by the better fighters on the night.

Manfredy at his best was a solid skillful boxer, see his fights with Wilson Rodriguez, Ivan Robinson, two guys Gatti had hell with Manfredy beat them relatively comfortably. Manfredy was just a higher level skilled fighter than Gatti.

And Gatti couldn't deal with Robinsons combinations or workrate. If Gatti couldn't beat a poor man Meldrick Taylor in 2 fights, he certainly ain't beating the actual Meldrick Taylor.

I love Gatti as a fighter but he was never elite, where as Meldrick Taylor was elite at one point. Theres levels to this and Taylor was at a much higher level than Gatti. The Taylor that done a paint job on Buddy McGirt would massacre Gatti.

 

Angel wasn't more skilled then Gatti and I think that was proven. Gatti had just engaged in multiple wars before he met Angel and it finally caught up to him.
You keep bringing up Robinson and leave out everything else. Gatti lost by a SPLIT DECSION and lost every single fight he fought that year - that most definitely is a slump.
Too many wars had caught up to him and it showed.
He almost retired but took off almost a year and came back at a new weight class.
I saw Mel fight live. Fast fighter. Had absolutely NO power. And he got hit alot more then you realize.
I watched Brazier land alot of right hands on Mel throughout the entire fight and I remember thinking if this guy doesn't tighten up he's in for a short career.
Now Mel had a very good chin but you can't name me one good fighter he knocked out with one shot can you?
He hit Buddy a million times and Buddy's corner stopped that fight.
Howard Davis had a weak chin and Mel never came close to hurting him and I actually thought Davis won that fight.
Blake. Ramos. Brazier. Perez. All these guys went the distance with Mel.
Mel's biggest problem is he loved to trade way too much.
Do that against a pumcher- and Gatti could punch - and he's going to have a problem.

How about Patterson he was very good.
Gatti could bang point blank. One punch power.

 

Gatti wasn't great, but he was entertaining. Taylor is just a different class of fighter and would stop Arturo

 

There is absolutely no good argument for Gatti here. At their bests, Gatti gets slaughtered .

 

I disagree Manfredy was a more skilled fighter than Gatti, can i just ask how many fights have you seen of Manfredy ? i'm not trying to be an ass when i say this. Because a few years ago i'd only seen Manfredy get blown away by Mayweather and etc, when i actually watched a few of Manfredy's best wins i was actually quite surprised, he was actually a pretty skilled fighter who threw lovely combinations had great balance, always in good position to punch. Just watch Manfredy vs Rodriguez, Robinson, both of these fighters were coming off fighting Gatti. And Manfredy outboxed both of them with a great display of boxing, i'm telling you Manfredy was a more skilled fighter than Gatti, and he proved in their actual fight when he beat Gatti convincingly.

Robinson vs Gatti was a huge upset at the time, it was also named upset of the year. I don't think many people expected Gatti to lose to Robinson, Robinson as much as i like him as a fighter, never did anything of note other than beating Gatti. At best he's considered a decent contender for that era, shortly before fighting Gatti Robinson had lost to Cardona and Holliday. So going into the Gatti fight Robinson wasn't in the best of form himself either.

Meldrick Taylor doesn't have to be a big puncher, he would just beat Gatti like Robinson did but worse. Robinson wasn't a big puncher and relied on workrate and combinations, and he was able to stand in the trenches and beat Gatti at his own game, is Robinson any tougher than Taylor ? i would say that's highly debatable. But in every other aspect like speed, boxing, etc, Taylor trumps Robinson significantly so i don't see why Taylor shouldn't be heavily favoured based on that.

 

Robinson hurt Gatti quite a few times as well. I watched that fight this morning at the hospital.

 

If I remember rightly and it's been forever since I've seen either fight, but in their 2nd fight I believe it was the 3rd round ? I think it might of been the round of the year aswell. But I recall Robinson puting a bad beating on Gatti in that round, and came somewhat close to getting a stoppage ?

 

You forget Robinson almost got knocked out as well when facing Gatti.
Robinson was a very highly accomplished amateur and a very skilled boxer who should have gone alot further then he did.
Angel got a little overrated. Mayweather blew him out.
Diego blew him out. Paul totally boxed his ears off along with Johnson.
Calvin Grove was completely shot when he was fighting Angel and he was having his way with Angel until Angel caught up to him.
Gatti has wins over Patterson, Ruelas, and took out Dorin in two rounds.
Besides Gatti who did Angel beat? He not only lost everytime he stepped up he got DOMINATED.
Ivan Robinson had alot taken out of him in those Gatti fights - ask him and he will tell you they took a huge toll physically on him. He went 5 wins and TEN losses after Gatti.
Mel was indeed more skilled then Gatti but the problem is he didn't use it.
Gatti is ALOT stronger then Mel and Mel is going to sit in that pocket one too many times and its going to cost him.
Mel's greatest win was vs Buddy who went in as damaged goods and wanted a rematch with Taylor which never happened. And we all know what would have been the outcome of that.

 

Yes he landed alot of shots on Gatti.
There was alot of talk about Gatti needed to retire after those two bouts as he looked pretty bad.
But he sat down with management and he also took a little break which more then likely saved his career.

 

Gatti was indeed a great fighter who was also a two division world champion.
You should have seen him live when he was coming up - the power was insane.
But also Gatti had a super bad habit of partying a little too much especially when he was young.
Patterson was a very good champion who had some outstanding wins and Gatti beat him twice.

 

It was the sixth where Gatti was hurt worst. Robinson got hurt, too though.

 

I would favor Taylor to win a points decision but he would take lot of punishment along the way. Meldrick loved to make boxing matches into fights when it wasnt necessary and Gatti would certainly oblige him. I think Taylor is tough enough to see the end and good enough to win a decision in a fight of the year type match.