Meldrick Taylor: What Could've Been?

I think taylor needed a solid punch to go with the speed and combinations, if he was to become a truly great fighter.Either that or a lot more ring savvy.

Going no higher than Junior Welter would have been a must as well, if we take him as he was.he was very much style over substance at Welter imo, though still a good solid fighter.Even with no Chavez fight, i doubt his tools would have been too effective there.

 

Agreed. He'd have been plastered by Espana regardless of the Chavez fight. If people think Chavez gave him a beating, they need to check that one out. Brutal.

 

One fight that I think is commonly overlooked or even forgotten, was Meldrick Taylor's win over Aron Davis.. Davis was an undefeated welter weight titlist, and Meldrick was on the rebound from his defeat from Chavez.. Taylor was in perhaps his first or second fight since jumping from Jr. Welter to Welter, and frankly, I felt that he looked fabulous in that match. I had him winning just about every round of that fight enroute to a one-sided decision and a new title. The fight occurred in late January of 1991. The reason I remember it so well, was because trajedy struck my family that evening.. My friends and I were enjoying the fight while " living it up a bit ", when my older brother came in my room to tell me that his then fiance and her father had been killed in a plane crash flying over Tennesse.. That was quite an evening..

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJDsp-FUyh0[/ame]

I think this encapsulates how Taylor fought.

 

I never liked his defense or I guess it'd be defensive mindset.

He held that chin straight up in the air & was a guy that got hit clean way too much. With that handspeed of his, I just could never understand why he did not concentrate of defense a little. He held those hands low. Brought them back low. He'd use real good footwork and angles and 5 seconds later he'd stand still and wait for a receipt. He had the tools to not get hit but he just seemed to be a guy that was 90% offense and 10% defense. I thought the guy should've been & was capable of being a 70/30 guy and he'd hold up better and dominate even moreso.

 

Norris against COMPLETELY shot fighters was a beast.

 

Agreed.

I think even in the Davis fight though, despite having a good first half to the fight, he faded quite a bit in the second half, and his workrate was nowhere near what it had been for Chavez. The commentators were even mentioning (from memory) how Taylor had stopped throwing combos, which was uncharacteristic for him.

I may be alone here, but I only had Taylor taking the Davis fight by a couple of points.

That said, perhaps it was just the jump up in weight, I can't say for certain that it wasn't.

 

I see we got a Norris hater on here. It's all good man:good

 

He never really had defense. Even in the first Chavez fight I felt there were shots he really could've avoided.

 

Those flaws were present prior to that Chavez bout & were things that made for a major weakness in his game.

 

Norris was a beast in general. I hope you ****ing die a bad death......

 

He never had the power to get away with such an open defense, call it Phili pride but it was bad boxing. You have to play to your strengths.

In some ways he is similar to Calzaghe and if he had feasted on old men and lesser fighters he could have built a god legacy but never enough to mix it with top level greats

 

Well, Duva stupidly told him at the bell for the final round that the fight was in the balance and Taylor had to win the round to win the fight. This was ludicrous. Chavez received some gifts in his career, but there's no way he could have been given the decision over Taylor that night.

 

I felt the same way after watching Pea-Chavez while not knowing the result beforehand:verysad

 

Hinsight is great. What if the judges had given, say, 2 rounds to Chavez from the first eight (not unthinkable) and then given him 9, 10, 11 and 12 because Taylor decided to take his foot off the gas? Then we'd all be shouting at Duva for telling Taylor to take it easy and costing him the W.