Would Taylor Have Defeated Chavez On The Scorecards If The Last Round Finished?

I usually bring up pacing when the 12 vs. 15 round thing is brought up, but this is a case where I think Chavez would have stopped Taylor without controversy if it was scheduled for 15.

Taylor wasn't beating Chavez by using great defense, angles, and movement like Whitaker did. Taylor was winning by outworking Chavez. He was still getting hit a lot. Chavez cut Taylor inside the mouth in the 2nd round, and was landing good hard shots throughout. Taylor was winning the rounds with his workrate.

I think Taylor may have had to fight in that manner to win. I remember a few instances where Taylor was trying to box more and use movement, and Chavez would catch him down the middle with his straight right hand. Taylor would then flurry to respond.

If scheduled for 15, there may have been some slight changes in terms of pacing and the sense of urgency. But ultimately I think Taylor was just getting hit too much with hard shots.

Taylor's team later threw him to the wolves and cashed out on him against Terry Norris.

A year after the Chavez fight, Taylor beat Aaron Davis for a title at 147, and looked very good. But shortly after that, you could see the decline. He had an unimpressive win over Luis Garcia and was dropped twice against Glenwood Brown. The Brown fight was a good fight, but Taylor really had to gut it out to win, and the way he reacted to punches was troublesome.

A few months later, Taylor moved up again to face Norris at a catchweight. After how he had looked in his previous couple of fights, I can't imagine his team thinking it was a good idea to have him in there with Norris of all people. They probably figured he was going to lose soon anyway, they might as well get a nice payday against Norris first before he fought his mandatory, Cristiano Espana.

Espana was always going to be a nightmare matchup for Taylor. Taylor was always going to have problems at 147 due to his style and the talent level there at the time.