That fight ended him full stop, he had his face broken and was ****ing blood. He should have retired then and hopefully he would have been in a better state than he is now, hindsight is a wonderful thing though.
The HBO Legendary Nights documentary of his fight with JCC showed Meldrick to be nothing short of a slurring mess...a shame indeed.
It comes with the territory I suppose, they know the risks but you still don't expect it to happen to you. The brain is a very fragile and complicated organ, some fighters can survive a lifetime of beatings and retire with all their faculties yet one fight can destroy others.
Although you would have been taken to the padded cell if on March 18th 1990 you had said Taylor should call it a day; it was clear when he fought Ramos something was not right, and by the Superman fight it was getting worse, not better. After the Garcia fight in June 91, there were some (not me) who were calling Taylor finished as a fighter. So that is 15 months hindsight, not now 25 years...
And of course the one that maybe tops them all...poor Danny O'Sullivan who was put down 14 times over the course of 10 rounds against Vic Toweel.
There are times when this sort of thing makes you realise what a brutal sport this is. That fight effectively finished Taylor as a fighter. The poor sod didn't even get the satisfaction of the win either. Lady luck really screwed Meldrick over.
Honeyghan v Starling (Lloyd got nerve facial damage from a punch and was literally running away in agony getting bashed. Its a shame because the first 4 rounds were a barnburner). Margarito v A Diaz (margarito couldn't miss) Corrales vs Roberto Garcia (diego had crazy power at 130) Margarito vs. Cintron (both fights)
Do you reckon it was a deliberate thumbing? I'm a big Hagler fan, but I was surprised how well Roldan was doing early in that fight.