what if meldrick taylor...

Actually in this instance the damage Chavez was doing to Taylor could be seen in Taylor's swollen face.

A Richard Steele interview revealed that Chavez was landing shots to break bones. (It turned out Taylor's orbital bone and some of his ribs were broken.)

When Chavez went to the body, Taylor's grunts could be heard ringside.
All these factors are telling sitting at ringside, and yet two of the three judges unexplicably to me had Taylor winning wide.

Whenever I watch a replay of this fight, the hook to the body and the repeated right hand smash forcefully into Taylor's face between Taylor's flurries, stick out like a sore thumb.

The effectiveness of Chavez' work is evident with each passing round, and more so from the halfway point foward.



I'll note that it was the Duva's decision to navigate Taylor away from Chavez at the weight of 140 lbs.
In fact the Duva's even had Pernell Whitaker tippytoe past 140 lbs because they viewed Chavez as a monster at 140 lbs.

The thinking of the Duva's was that there more athletic fighters in Whitaker and Taylor would better handle the weight at 147 lbs.

 

I think an immediate rematch anytime within a year of the original would have played out pretty similar to how it eventually ended up playing out when they rematched over 4 years later.

Dont forget that though Taylor was a diminished fighter, so was Chavez.
Chavez heading into that Taylor rematch was coming off of two hard fights with Frankie Randall where he clearly showed he was slowing down and on the down slope himself.
Taylor certainly had declined more, but Chavez clearly having already faced the best version of Taylor (one of the fastest fighters ever to lace boxing gloves).
The experience of having faced that speed would have benefited Chavez come an immediate rematch.


For those that saw the rematch. Taylor did quite well the first few rounds. (I was actually suprised by this)

......but if you take note and see Chavez' mannerisms early in the Taylor rematch, there was no hurry and no urgency to the way he went about his business.

Turns out that a declined Chavez was able to bide his time, let Taylor punch himself out with his flurries, and then step on the gas Pedal himself and lower down the thunder on a Taylor that was fading physically with each passing minute.


I dont see an immediate rematch playing out all that much different, except that Chavez would have started out with a bit more urgency in his work earlier, and hurt Taylor earlier as well.
I dont see where an immediate rematch would have gone into the late rounds.

 

Still Chavez, but Taylor still puts up a great fight

 

U went and found a thread that was last posted on over 14 years ago, to somewhat agree with the majority of opinions....lol