Meldrick Taylor: What Could've Been?

Thread Stealer · Jun 21, 2010

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtCbnPoPoaw[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA-I_C380X4[/ame]

brownpimp88 · Jun 21, 2010

If he can beat buddy mcgirt, that says something. I mean his resume is on par with Aaron Pryor or Kostya Tsyzu's. Sure having arguello and cervantes on your resume looks nice, but a victory over a young mcgirt at 140 and aaron davis at 140 seems more impressive than beating 2 greats in thier 30's.

techks · Jun 21, 2010

I think he achieved all he could considering his lack of power and size disadvantage but that says alot. He gave two great fights against Chavez and other good performances. I'm glad to be a fan of his.

ThinBlack · Sep 28, 2012

I think 140 was going to be the zenith of his career.He didn't have the power to hang with the higher weights, and his skill set was a bit overrated.But Meldrick was arguably the fastest fighter in the world for a time, and he did managed some quality wins under his belt.Him and Judah would've been a classic.

Jai C · Sep 28, 2012

Nothing different. It is what it is.

ETM · Sep 28, 2012

Outside of a prime Hector Camacho, Meldrick Taylor had the fastest hands Ive seen in any division. Problem is many of his hooks and flurries were slaps. He didnt have concussive power.

Along with that his ring IQ was lacking. He had a warrior`s heart and a warrriors mentality. It just doesnt work when you cant hurt the other guy.

Oddly enough he may have given Pernell Whitaker problems had they fought.

I dont see an alltime great but he was a fine fighter.

salsanchezfan · Sep 28, 2012

I guess I'd ask what one would expect him to accomplish on top of what he did(?) Did you want him to win the middleweight title or something?

He was a smallish guy with little power who won two world titles with really really fast hands and more heart than was good for him, and a lot of talent. That's a lot. What more could anyone want from a guy?

zadfrak · Sep 28, 2012

ETM said: ↑

Outside of a prime Hector Camacho, Meldrick Taylor had the fastest hands Ive seen in any division. Problem is many of his hooks and flurries were slaps. He didnt have concussive power.

Along with that his ring IQ was lacking. He had a warrior`s heart and a warrriors mentality. It just doesnt work when you cant hurt the other guy.

Oddly enough he may have given Pernell Whitaker problems had they fought.

I dont see an alltime great but he was a fine fighter.
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Agree w/ your take on the Macho Man. Man, there's a guy who's stock price has dropped through the years. But at 130, I went to a few of his fights and saw him spar/gym workout. Like you said, fastest hands.

He could get off a 12 punch combo in a nano second. He would also mix things up and not just do a standard left right left right like all the other top handspeed guys. Hector would add an uppercut or hook in the middle of his flurries and not skip a beat. Incredible. Couldn't believe my eyes and I sure thought there is no 130 pounder that has the defense to deal with this guy.

I've heard Ray Robinson could do that as well, but I'm not old enough to have seen him. What a rare skill to have. You simply have to see that stuff live though and not get a off film type perspective of things.

Thread Stealer · Jan 22, 2016

I'm in the habit of just putting a bunch of articles in threads regarding certain fighters just for those boxing historians (or simply put, nerds) like myself who enjoy reading them.

Here's one about Taylor leading up to the 1992 fight with Terry Norris.

http://articles.latimes.com/1992-05-07/sports/sp-2450_1_meldrick-taylor

Food Fight : Meldrick Taylor Loves to Eat Almost as Much as He Loves to Box, but He's Winning That Battle, Too

LAS VEGAS When Meldrick Taylor burst upon the amateur boxing scene as a mid-teen in the tough, gritty gyms of Philadelphia, boxing people there weren't sure what they had.

Was he a future featherweight champion or a future heavyweight champion?

He sure could fight, everyone acknowledged. But he could eat like Orson Welles, too. Some even gave him a shot at evolving into another Buster Mathis, who made a good run through the heavyweight division during the 1970s.

Luckily, however, Taylor's gym ethic was such that he could work off the Twinkies, cheeseburgers, Cokes, potato chips and pizzas.

By 1984, he was already a solid candidate to make the U.S. Olympic team as a featherweight--125 pounds. In a key test that year, he had to face the great Cuban, Adolfo

Horta, at the USA-Cuba matches in Reno in February.

Horta was in his late 20s and a three-time world champion. Taylor was 16.

The night before the matches, U.S. Olympic Coach Pat Nappi prowled a hotel corridor, making unannounced room checks. He burst in upon Taylor and found him in bed with . . . a giant pizza.

Furious, Nappi threw out the pizza. Then, at high volume, pointed out to Taylor that he was only hours away from a weigh-in for the most important boxing engagement of his life.

Taylor made weight the next morning, possibly because Nappi posted a sentry outside the fighter's room to guard against pizza deliverymen.

Taylor went on to the Los Angeles Olympics and became one of the Games' youngest gold medalists. He turned pro three months later and has lost only once.

Saturday night, at the Mirage, he faces his toughest challenge since his last-second defeat by Julio Cesar Chavez two years ago.

Taylor, with a 29-1-1 record, meets Terry Norris (31-3) for Norris' World Boxing Council junior-middleweight championship. And this time, Taylor's people vow, his eating ethic has matched his gym ethic.

In Philadelphia, Taylor's gym workouts are the stuff of legend.

"I used to work out at the same health club Taylor did," Philadelphia columnist Bill Lyon said.

"He came in from six or seven miles of roadwork one day, immediately got on the Stairmaster machine next to mine, set it to the 'death zone' setting (the highest possible) and did 30 minutes without holding onto the railings. I've never gotten over that."

Given that kind of work ethic, some in boxing wonder if Taylor wouldn't be a more formidable fighter at, say, 135 or 140 pounds, on a leaner diet.

Saturday's fight is at 150 1/2 pounds, even though the junior-middleweight maximum is 154. Dan and Lou Duva, Taylor's promoter and trainer, wouldn't take the Norris fight unless all agreed on a weight midway between the welterweight limit, 147, and 154. Taylor holds a piece of the welterweight championship, but it isn't at stake Saturday night.

Through his eight years with the Duvas, it's been one victory--and one battle over eating--after another.

Taylor's trainer, Lou Duva, certainly shouldn't be lecturing anyone on proper nutrition. At 5 feet 8, he carries around one of boxing's most spectacular paunches. But he's 68, and Taylor is 25.

"For the first time, I think, we don't have to worry about what Mel's eating," Duva said Wednesday. "He's finally got his head on straight over food. He weighs 148, 149 right now. He weighed 150 ten days ago. So it looks like we'll have no problem with the weight."

Taylor and heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield joined Duva at the same time in 1984 and both were fast-food and snack-food junkies, Duva said.

"You'd walk into Evander's room and the place would be full of potato chips, candy bars and pizza. But with Evander, once we had a nutritionist explain to him the right way to eat, that was the end of it.

"With Meldrick, it's taken years. We'd lecture him about fresh fruit, steamed vegetables, pasta with tomato sauce . . . and he'd nod his head, then drive straight to a McDonald's.

"Once, at a training camp for a fight, I went out and bought a half-dozen oranges, a half-dozen apples, a couple of pounds of g****s. I gave them to him and said: 'Here, eat this while we're here.'

"A few hours later, I asked him where all the fruit was and he said he'd eaten it, like I'd told him. I said: 'Mel! Not at one sitting! ' "

Taylor had to make 140 pounds for the only fight he has lost, his epic match with Chavez in March of 1990.

"I lost too much (weight) too close to that fight," he said of the crushing defeat, when Chavez beat him in the final seconds of the fight. Referee Richard Steele stopped it with two seconds remaining, awarding victory to Chavez. Taylor was ahead on all the judges' scorecards at the time.

Two days before that fight, Taylor seemed too lean. Spectators at his last workout could count all of his ribs.

"I was dehydrated the last three rounds against Chavez," Taylor said the other day. "I fought him on heart alone."

On that night, Taylor gave all he had--and then some. Some still wonder if he will ever be the fighter he was before that fight. He spent the night of the loss to Chavez in a Las Vegas hospital, where doctors found a fracture near his left eye.

He also needed a transfusion to replace two pints of blood he lost from a mouth cut.

Although both Chavez and Taylor absorbed considerable punishment that night, Chavez seemed relatively unharmed. He had only a nick on his nose, whereas Taylor's entire face was swollen. Taylor, who lives in Cherry Hill, N.J., has fought five times since the Chavez war, with mixed results. He was tentative and unaggressive in his next outing, winning a lackluster decision over Primo Ramos at Stateline, Nev.

Co-trainer George Benton was also unhappy with Taylor's next outing, a decision over Aaron Davis nearly a year after the Chavez fight.

"He won decisions, but he wouldn't take it to Ramos or Davis in the late rounds," Benton said.

"If that was from the Chavez fight, I don't know. But you can bet he'll do what I tell him Saturday."

Since fighting Davis, from whom he won the World Boxing Assn. welterweight title, Taylor has beaten Luis Garcia, Ernie Chavez and Glenwood Brown. He was down twice against Brown but won a unanimous decision.

Taylor once had a high knockout percentage, but since Chavez he has stopped only one of five opponents.

His task Saturday is a formidable one. He is moving up in weight and, in theory at least, will fight a bigger, stronger athlete who has won 10 in a row, four of them defenses of his championship.

And to those who say he has lost something since Chavez, Taylor says they are wrong.

"I haven't lost anything since that fight," he said. "The people who say I've lost something don't understand me as a fighter. Fighters don't look great every time. With the exception of Michael Jordan, no professional athlete can always be at his best."

Taylor says he wants to springboard from a victory over Norris to boxing's biggest paydays. He will earn $2 million Saturday. Norris gets $1.3 million.

"A win over Norris will propel me to being the boxing superstar of the '90s," he said.

"After that, I want a rematch with Chavez. If I can't get that, then I'll fight anyone in the middle weight classes."

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Thread Stealer · Jan 22, 2016

A Sports Illustrated Article after his win over Aaron Davis in 1991.

A HIT PARADE

Out to prove himself after his lone loss, Meldrick Taylor wrested the WBA welterweight title from Aaron Davis
By Pat Putnam
Jan. 28, 1991

Meldrick Taylor learned his craft in a Philadelphia gym, which means he never learned to take a step backward. From the beginning of his career, he has been a warrior, and that aggressive style served him well through 25 fights until last March 17, when he went to graduate school in Las Vegas. The professor that night was wise old Julio Cèsar Chàvez, who taught Taylor, the 23-year-old undefeated International Boxing Federation junior welterweight champion, that when you are winning a fight going into the last round, you don't engage in any foolish attacks. Behind on points, Chàvez stopped a charging Taylor with two seconds left in the 12th round.

Last Saturday night in Atlantic City, Taylor proved to be an excellent student. Far ahead on all three officials' cards against World Boxing Association welterweight champion Aaron Davis, Taylor came out for the final round wearing track shoes. If he wasn't thinking of Chàvez, as he claimed later, then he must have been thinking of Carl Lewis. To catch Taylor, Davis would have needed a motorcycle.

"We told him to stay away from trouble, but that wasn't exactly what we had in mind," said a laughing George Benton, Taylor's trainer. "I told him I wanted him moving in a circle, to keep turning Davis, and not to jump on him. I didn't want him to run like that."

This was to be a stern test for Taylor. In his first fight after losing to Chàvez, he had not looked sharp while winning a 10-round decision last August over lightly regarded Primo Ramos. "Forget how he looked," said co-manager Lou Duva before the Davis fight. "He did what we hoped he'd do; he got his confidence back. After a knockout, you don't send a fighter in against a cannon. Now he's ready for anybody."

As a cannon, Davis qualified, having gone unbeaten in 32 fights, with 20 knockouts. He won the WBA title last July by knocking out Mark Brelandlike Taylor a 1984 Olympic gold medalist. Davis had nearly a five-inch advantage in height and a 10-inch edge in reach over the 5'6½" Taylor. Of course, he shouldn't have called Taylor a sissy in the week leading up to the fight at the Convention Center.

"He's got a big mouth," said Taylor. "He's called me a lot of names. He's mad because he's the champion, but I'm the one getting all the attention. He's aware people don't take him seriously. I'm excited about getting back in the ring and showing him I am still a great fighter. Then we will see how big his mouth is."

The angry Taylor punished the 3-to-l underdog champion with a savage body attack right from the opening bell. The lanky Davis needs room to punch; staying inside, Taylor gave him none. Blistering combinations, four, five and six punches at a clip, fired with blinding speedrips to the body followed by uppercuts to the headbuilt a wide lead for Taylor. Not even being penalized a point for low blows by referee Arthur Mercante in the second round slowed Taylor.

Davis, a tough 23-year-old from the Bronx, recovered to mount an offensive in the middle rounds of the fight. Then he fell back again in the face of Taylor's assault. Though the judges had no problem picking a winnerVincent Rainone and Phil Newman scored it 116-111, Frank Cairo 115-112each of the game fighters earned his $525,000 purse.

"This is my weight: 147," said Taylor, now 26-1-1, after the fight. "I had a lot of problems making 140 pounds. Against Chàvez I fought the last three rounds dehydrated. I fought those rounds on heart alone. Even though I lost, as far as I'm concerned, I won. I beat him at his own gameinside. Now I feel more powerful. I want Chàvez to come up and fight me at this weight. I think we are the two best fighters in the world. Let him come up and we'll find out who is the best."

In June or July, Taylor is expected to make his first welterweight defense, against Luis Garcia of Venezuela, who is 21-0 and the WBA's top contender. "Then the only guy he wants is Chàvezat 147 pounds," said Dan Duva, Taylor's promoter. "But we're not going to chase him. If Chàvez wants to make a lot of money, he has our phone number. He can call us."

At that, Taylor grinned. If the phone doesn't ring in Duva's office soon, the fighter from Philadelphia just might make a call himself. "Hey, Julio, what have you got planned for September...?"
Click to expand...

http://www.si.com/vault/1991/01/28/...d-the-wba-welterweight-title-from-aaron-davis

Arminius · Jan 22, 2016

natonic said: ↑

Norris against COMPLETELY shot fighters was a beast.
Click to expand...

Julian Jackson could not have said that better.

thanosone · Jan 23, 2016

TheGreatA said: ↑

Whatever Meldrick Taylor may have had left in him as a top class fighter, the Norris fight surely took it away. I never understood the decision to match a former 140 lber against the best 154 lber around. Taylor didn't have the power to bother Norris and Norris, not exactly known for his awesome chin, said he would simply walk through "pillow-punching" Meldrick Taylor, which he did.

Taylor seemed about as good as ever against Aaron Davis but struggled with Glenwood Brown, Garcia. Perhaps welterweight was never his ideal weight but I guess he would have performed better without the Chavez loss in between.
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Sad how they both ended up. Norris and Taylor. Makes me appreciate boxing even more. Dudes end up re****ed and ****. All for the glory $$$ fame. Some for the fans and adulation.

Perry · Jan 23, 2016

Taylor never impressed me. His punch could not break an egg.

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