Meldrick Taylor vs Arturo Gatti @ 140?

Your discrediting Manfredy by saying he lost to Spadafora, Johnston, fights he atleast won 4 rounds in BTW and was competitive, even if he was beaten clearly he wasn't embarrassed in either fight. And at that time Spadafora and Johnston were two of the best Lightweights in the world, it's not like Gatti would of done any better against them. It's not comparable to Gatti losing twice to a fringe contender like Robinson. Spadafora and Johnston were world class fighters who were highly rated world champions at the time.

As for Corrales and Mayweather well Gatti was annihilated by Mayweather himself, and Corrales was considered to be one of the best Super Featherweights in the world at that time. Yes Manfredy lost to some very highly rated world class fighters. But it's not like Gatti would of done any better against either of them, how many fighters did Gatti beat who were on the levels of those 4 fighters ?

As for who did Manfredy beat ? well he beat Ivan Robinson easily 9 rounds to 1 who was fresh off beating Gatti twice. He also beat Wilson Rodriguez fairly easily aswell and done much better against him than Gatti did, so thats two common opponents that Manfredy did much better against, on top of beating Gatti himself fairly easily aswell.

I'm sorry but i don't agree with what your saying, the footage that i have seen of both fighters. Manfredy's boxing skills were at a higher level than Gatti's and it showed when they both fought.

As for Meldrick Taylor he dominated McGirt with one of the best boxing clinics ever, i don't know what your referring to with "damaged goods" i'm not really clued up on McGirt. I know he had shoulder problems throughout his career, but i do know he was fresh off blowing away Howard Davis Jr in 1 round, so was he really damaged goods ? and to assume McGirt would win a rematch when he got dominated by Taylor is a little bit presuming, i certainly wouldn't favour McGirt against a prime Taylor in a rematch.

It's quite simple really Gatti was a solid/good fighter, Taylor at one point was an elite/special fighter there's level to this, and Taylor was at a higher level than Gatti. Would Gatti come anyway close to beating a prime Chavez ? no i think he would end up like Greg Haugen. We have evidence of Gatti losing to a much lesser version of Meldrick Taylor in Ivan Robinson twice, you can make excuses that Gatti was this and that, but the fact is Gatti couldn't find a way to beat a fringe contender like Ivan Robinson in 2 attempts. So logic tells me that if Gatti can't beat a poor mans Meldrick Taylor in 2 attempts, why in the world would i give Gatti a chance vs the actual Meldrick Taylor ?

 

Johnson boxed Angels ears off and it wasnt even close. And Paul Spadafora soundly beat him. 4 rounds to Angel against each of those boxers is pure BS and you know it.
Gatti won a title from a legimate champion did Angel? Angel got BLOWN out in what 2 rounds by Mayweather? 3 by Corrales. Gatti who wasnt even in his prime anymore lasted longer with Mayweather did he not? yes or no.
You keep harping on Robinson as if it was the highest level opponent Gatti faced which it wasnt. And he lost a split decsion the first time.
Courtney Burton thrashed Manfredy pretty bad is that the gauge we are going to use to measure Angel?
Taylor was elite for how long? And what happened in the Chavez fight is he took way too much punishment because he liked to trade too much and it cost him. After that he had one more good performance and that was it.
I liked Taylor but i could never figure him out and I KNOW Benton must have been pulling his hair out because somebody with that type of speed got hit way too much not because he didnt have the skills but because he liked to trade too much.
I still remember Hooper nailing Taylor a bunch of times with that righthand and im here to tell you if Hooper could punch Mel would have had severe problems that night.
And you are exactly right Mel had more talent then Gatti but heres the thing: he never applied like he should have. And if Gatti couldnt punch it wouldnt be an issue because Gatti isnt going to outbox Mel but Gatti could crack and Mel couldnt.
Angel beat Gatti but a rematch Im not too sure of. A rested Gatti in a differnt weightclass was a different animal.
I always ask myself this simple question: If I could pick either to have a career like Gatti or Angel which one would i choose?
Angel for sure was a world class boxer but i tell you Gatti coming up was fun to watch- he was laying people out left and right.

 

Meldrick would stop Gatti, and it would be a corner stoppage, they pull the plug, kinda like how Meldrick stopped Gatti's trainer (who also was far better than Gatti and would like have stopped him)

 

The point i'm trying to make is you keep bringing up Manfredy losing to Johnston, Spadafora, Mayweather, Corrales, but what i'm saying is they were considered the best in that weightclass at that time. They were elite world champions and my argument is Gatti would not do any better against either of them fighters, as i've asked before how many elite fighters did Gatti ever beat ? especially on the level of those 4 fighters ? if your gonna bring up Manfredy losing to Burton at the end of his career, i might aswell bring up Gatti losing to Baldomir and Gomez then. I'm not arguing Gatti didn't have a better career than Manfredy, but in an actual match up between the two in their prime. I think Manfredy is a better fighter H2H between the two.

The reason i keep bringing up Ivan Robinson, is because it's relevant to this discussion. When were talking about a mythical match up between Gatti/Taylor. Ivan Robinson has similarities to Meldrick Taylor they're both from Philly, they both like to throw alot of punches, they both throw in combinations, there both skillful boxers who like to slug it out more than boxing. The only difference is Taylor does all those things at a much higher level than Robinson, so logic tells me if Gatti couldn't find a way to beat Robinson twice, i'm not going to favour Gatti over Meldrick Taylor.

We have been going back and forth on this discussion, and it may appear i dislike Gatti. I don't i love him as a fighter, he's the kind of fighter that can make a non boxing fan watch his fights and be entertained. But i just don't think he's on the level of a prime Meldrick Taylor.

Lastly i don't think we are going to agree on this match up, were both sticking to our guns and have our own thoughts. So if you reply i'll let you have the last word on the debate, to come to some sort of middle ground, lets just say it would be a very entertaining fight either way.