It was gradual. His quality of opposition was not too high right after Taylor in early '90 thru the Whitaker fight in '93. He looked good in just about every fight but was not severely tested. He looked bad against Whitaker, but Whiitaker made many very good fighters look bad. To me, the second Randall fight is where he really showed substantial slippage. He gassed out pretty early and was particularly easy to hit. I will add that I think Chavez was clearly better at 135 lbs. than 140. He boxed more, brawled less. To me, he looked worse against Roger Mayweather in '89 at 140 lbs. than he had up until moving up in weight. He just never carried 140 lbs as well as 135 lbs. So, I think he peaked in '87 at 135 lbs. But, he was not slipping after that due to age or reflexes, just not as good at the higher weight. Slippage due to age and reflexes was noticeable to me only around Randall II in May 1994. By the time De La Hoya beat him and of course Kostya Tzyu, Chavez was badly faded.
