This day in 1990, JC Chavez wrecked Meldrick Taylor

A terrible, terrible day indeed

 

I think if you beat a guy badly enough that he can't fight anymore, you should get the victory, regardless of how many seconds are left.

It's a shame that both guys couldn't win. Taylor deserves credit for the amazing skills he put on display for 11 rounds, and Chavez derserves credit for the insane amount of damage he did to Taylor's body.

 

Man, what a night.
I watched the fight in a crowded bar. It was packed and my girl was waiting tables; back then I had color in my hair and I really liked girls that worked in bars.
Everybody wanted Taylor to win, other than my table.
As I scored it that night, I had Chavez up by one going into the last round but there were many close rounds, so I was worried about the outcome. It was obvious that Taylor had nothing left but Chavez just couldn't get to him in the 12th; when he finally knocked Taylor down I figured that Chavez had sealed it up.
Then the fight was stopped. What a night.

 

Have you scored the fight differently since that night, or do you still think Chavez was winning before the stoppage? I always have Taylor up biiig going into the 12th.

 

Scorecards are window dressing in some fights. Chavez was breaking him down long before the 12th.

Brutal.

 

I've watched it so many times, including at least twice in slow motion, and have always had Chavez ahead, and the margin has grown.
That has been influenced, admittedly, by knowing that Chavez won and thus recognizing the effectiveness of the work he was doing.
I have watched this fight so many times that I swore I would never watch it again and I did not for probably a dozen years. But, about a month ago, I drank a few too many beers and just watched it and loved it.

 

I know exactly what you mean. In hindsight you know Chavez' punches were doing more damage, so it's hard to not let that affect your judgement, even though Taylor was landing 2-to-1 in some instances.

 

I have always been a guy that favors damaging punches over numbers of punches, within reason. There have been a number of fights where I scored rounds for a fighter landing more punches, because of the sheer number, knowing that he was going to lose because of the quality of the shots the other guy landed.

 

I think this fight is one of the reasons why I score rounds almost entirely on volume. It's just so hard to tell in the moment who's punches are being more effective. Some fighters cut and swell more easily, sometimes guys look hurt even when they're not, some guys look okay even when they're not. You just can't tell until the fight is over, and sometimes not even then.

 

60FPS

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Or, if you don't care for the HBO glad-handing, same quality but a different language

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HBO commentary making it sound like Chavez was little more than a vacant bystander in the fight.
"More pawing then punching...doesn't have the stuff to get it done" - Jim Lampley
Taylor was fighting a hell of a fight. Telling us it's the perfect fight as he is beaten into hamburger is a bit overboard

 

When I was a kid, from around age 7, I used to watch the fights from the Olympic Auditorium. The announcer was Jim Healey and he would always say that a punch wasn't as good as it looked, or that it hurt a guy, things you can see from ringside.
That got me in the habit of noticing things like that, and I've watched thousands of rounds standing on the ring apron. You start to notice.