**Would you say that Meldrick was permanently injured before the 12th round?**

Yes, I think so, but not as much as what he took in the 12th round.

He probably already had that fracture in his skull and that last punch from JCC only made things worse. Taylor had already swallowed a lot of blood from the cuts in his mouth and I think he also had fractured ribs.

 

Yes, even before the 12th round, he recieved a terrible beating and definitely had brain trauma. Either way (win or lose), he wasn't going to come out for the better.

 

Maybe it is time to start givng Richard Steele a little credit.

Lou Duva was right there and didn't stop it earlier...and he is his trainer.
He saw with his own eyes what Chavez was doing and had done to his fighter.

Hopefully boxing has moved forward in overall safety since then.

 

He had already taken a horrible beating, and later was said to have swallowed two pints of blood and suffered a facial fracture. That would've happened with or without a 12th round.

However, I don't suscribe to the theory that this fight ALONE made Taylor a shot fighter/ruined him. Similar to Trinidad-Vargas, it was the main fight that did the most damage in a young champ's decline, but in general Taylor (like Vargas) traded a lot and took too much punishment in general.

 

on the hbo documentry they said the in his post figh physical taylor was pissing pure blood and had a fractured skull, i think it would probably take more than three minutes of a pounding to inflict that kind of damage. but, i also think a lot of long-term damage was done just be virtue of meldrick coming up through philly.

 

Didn't he break his orbital bone ??

 

Yes he was, fighting the way he did in the last round just made it totally worse. Even if he moved in the last round and survived to win a decision he still wouldn't have come out of that fight any better.

 

When skulls get broken..Thats the sign of some punishing punches. If Cotto had an Iron Chin like Chavez and never had weight issues at 140..He woulda seriously been the puerto rican version of chavez lol.

 

It's interesting that Lou Duva said he and his team didn't want Richard Steele because he had a history of favoring Don King fighters.

I'm trying to think of which fights before this one Steele acted in favor of a Don King fighter.

The quick stoppage of Tyson-Ruddock I came exactly a year and a day after Chavez-Taylor I.

Anyone think of fights before this one where Steele acted pro-King?

 

Absolutely right Orishaman, Taylor was swelling badly, pretty busted up and bloody, courtesy of Julio Cesar Chavez meatier hooks, but it was that right hand that dropped Meldrick in the last 10 seconds that led to Richard Steele's decision and rightful it was since Taylor was holding on to the ropes with both arms and keeping his equilibrium, standing against the corner... Richard Steele had no obligation to control the clock but if he was, he would notice that there were 2 seconds left and Taylor would make it to the final bell and thus, on his way to win a split decision based on the magnificent display of flashy, accurate boxing throughout the whole fight, Taylor produced a great, better case for him than Pernell would against Chavez... So good call Steele back then, unfortunate Taylor and very dubious Steele makin out for that Taylor's fight, taking points away from Chavez for low blows against Randall and becoming a factor in JCC's first loss... The Taylor, Randall and Tyson-Ruddock I fights proved that Steele wanted to shine way too much in boxing and that's not what a ref should do, they have to do their job discreetly and make it for the fighters physical integrity, nothing more.

 

duva is lying just like he lied on legendary nights saying he told meldrick to dance around in the last round.