Meldrick Taylor vs Jose Napoles

Napoles adjusts to Taylor work rate and busts him up.
Stoppage later rounds.
Napoles was a spiteful puncher, and deceptively smooth defensively.

 

I love Meldrick but he is in over his head here.

First I don’t think he is big/strong enough to be great above 140. I do think 2 of his best performances however did fall at WW against Aaron Davis and Glenwood Brown. But Napoles was a level above them.

I can see Meldrick keeping this competitive for 2-3 rounds, but much like his fight with Norris at 154 he won’t have to pop in his punch necessary to dissuade Napoles. Napoles turns up the intensity and stops Taylor in 8

 

Napoles breaks him down and takes him out.

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Unless Taylor can take advantage of Napoles' tender eyebrows to force a cuts stoppage, then I think he's got all sorts of problems here. Napoles is all wrong for him.

Taylor had awesome raw ability, but Napoles had great ring IQ on top of his own physical gifts, which were considerable. Taylor tended to be too brave for his own good and that would play in to Napoles' hands here. Napoles thought nothing of carrying the fight to a proven banger like Charles, and even Monzon when he spotted him 7 lb. Taylor would bag some rounds, but he can't keep Napoles off him. Napoles applied pressure in such a subtle, consistent way and had an underrated nasty, spiteful edge when he got in control.

I think he eventually cracks Taylor's code and systematically breaks him down after a few problems early. Napoles by TKO any time after the eighth or ninth round, with Taylor having taken a lot of punishment towards the end.

 

I think this is a perfect post

 

It would be a repeat of the rematch because Taylor was awful at welter compared to Napoles having said that the rematch and first match between Chavez and Taylor were both at LW anyway where Taylor was far better, I don`t know if Napoles ever fought at LW but he was a better fighter than Taylor P4P and would have done much better against Chavez in terms of getting hit far less.

 

Most of the counters thrown here by Napoles would have had a good chance of landing on Taylor specifically at welter because he got countered far too much at that weight and in his two fights v Chavez, Taylor wasn`t defensively responsible after punching, in his first fight with Chavez Ray Leonard who was commentating that day noticed that after Talor threw a combo he would just stand stationary waiting for the bill, Garcia that a bit too, look out for that on the 16th because Spence is great at punishing this mistake and he also would have beat Taylor this way.

 

Mel gets taken apart and stopped. Cant see it ending any other way.

Two different levels of fighter.

 

Napoles was a full level above anyone Taylor fought. Even Chavez and Norris. As other posters have said, once Napoles figures how to deal with Taylor's hand speed. The fight would turn into a one sided beat down. And for all of his natural physical ability and athleticism, Taylor was pretty easy to hit. And he didn't carry the pop in his punches to get Napoles respect. If both fighters are close to or in prime. Napoles stops Taylor within 9rds.

 

I don't disagree with your prediction but Billy Backus seems like a curious stand-in for Meldrick Taylor.

 

Crazy....Backus got 2 shots at the WW title and basically beat no one to earn the shots,
1978-05-20 : Pipino Cuevas 146¾ lbs beat Billy Backus 146¼ lbs by TKO in round 2 of 15

• Location: Forum, Inglewood, California, USA
• Referee: Carlos Berrocal

• Backus down in the first round, and is battered throughout the entire duration of the first round by heavy Cuevas power punches, which badly damage his face. He wearily returns to his corner at the end of the first with one of his eyes already completely swollen shut.
• Doctor immediately waves off the contest after inspecting the face of Billy Backus after the end of round one.

Sounds like a "Ruskie".....making the call:
http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:31296

 

This seems like a better, more competitive matchup at 140 than at 147. Either way though, Napoles would just be too good for Taylor.

Napoles might have been the best fighter ever to consistently fight at 140 and he's a top 5 welterweight all-time as well.

Napoles has too much skill offensively and defensively and as someone else has said, Taylor didn't have enough power at either weight to worry Mantequilla. The only advantage Taylor has is probably hand speed but keeping Napoles off with that for 15 rounds seems unlikely when he couldn't keep Chavez off him for 12 rounds.

 

You can argue Napoles' best years and fights aren't even available on film.

 

Napoles here. Taylor would be awkward early imo.