Meldrick Taylor vs Simon Brown @ 147

Meldrick Taylor outworked Glenwood Brown with his fast hands, but Simon Brown was never shy about letting his hands go. And meldrick wasn't shy about getting hit- avoiding punches wasn't high on his list of skills.
Taylor would land his share of punches and there would be some blistering exchanges in this fight. But Taylor was a top down puncher and Brown punched from the floor up. Brown will do more damage, punch for punch, and he will stop Taylor in around 8 rounds.

 

Simon would have taken his head off and I really liked Taylor.
Mel was so frustrating to watch - speed to burn and he for whatever reason would always elect to trade too much.
Can you imagine if he boxed more with that type of speed he had ?

 

Brown by late stoppage.

 

I would have rather seen this fight than Taylor vs Norris . It was probably a match that Meldrick could have one. I’ll say Taylor by decision over 12 with a few shaky moments along the way

 

And then to put him in with Espana right after Norris. It was almost like Duva and Benton didn't like him any more.

 

I think España was mandatory but maybe a quick non-title fight to get a bit of confidence back would have been a smart move.

The writing was on the wall for Meldrick, he struggled with Luis Garcia and then had to get off the floor twice against the dangerous but easily outboxeable Glenwood Brown before the Norris massacre.

Crisanto España was all wrong for Meldrick, a much taller, long armed puncher who used his reach to his advantage to punish his foes.

People forget he gave Ike Quartey a real battle, having him hurt at one point in a good fight.

 

Bingo. A lot of people think it was the first Chavez fight that ruined him and in truth it might have taken something out of him. But it was the Norris fight that effectively ended his career as a world class entity. Taylor had a lot left after Chavez. I remember the night when he easily schooled an undefeated Aron Davis for the WBA title and thinking that he had a good chance of unifying that division if he tried. But I guess someone talked him in to taking the biggest pay day available with Norris which in hindsight was a horrible mistake. He should have tried to unified the welterweight division then moved up and gotten a belt against someone like Rossi.

 

I think Simon would get to him and stop him in the mid to late rounds.

Espana was a mandatory. I think Duva and Benton saw the writing on the wall and cashed out on him with the Norris fight. Espana was always going to be an awful style matchup.

 

Brown

 

Bernard Taylor wow you really know your boxing.

 

I imagine that Taylor had a lot of Philly gym was which also sped up his decline.

I think he was always going to have a short stay at the top due to his style and the talent level at 147, but the beatings he took made his stay even shorter.

Taylor looked very good against Aaron Davis, but he looked pretty shaky against Glenwood Brown about 10 months later. He was dropped twice and hurt a couple other times. The other Brown in Simon was a harder hitter and better fighter than Glenwood, and I don’t think Taylor is able to gut out a tough win this time.

After the Glenwood fight, I don’t see why his team would think it would be a good idea for him to move up yet again to face Norris. Taylor was already lacking in size and power at 147. But it was a big payday, and Espana was his mandatory.

Espana was a good fighter who also had a huge advantage in height and reach. I think his team figured they might as well get the big payday in a separate division before Taylor puts his title up against a very risky mandatory challenger.

 

good points. Another option might have been to stay at 140. Fight either Coggi or Camacho for a belt. Maybe even a sooner rematch with Chavez. Not sure how any of that would have panned out but he might have done better. Assuming of course he could still comfortably make 140 without killing himself