Chavez vs Taylor I: 15th year anniversary

elmersalsa · Post by **elmersalsa** » 17 Mar 2005, 10:56

Today on March 17, we celebrate 15 years of the first Chavez vs Taylor I fight. It was an unbelievable fight from start to finish. Both fighters showed their worth that night and it is perhaps THE GREATEST FIGHT OF THE LAST 15 YEARS.

I have never seen a fight like that, and I remember where I was when I saw it. Whta was more unbelievable was the ending. Did Taylor made a mistake in not answering referee Richard Steele when Steele asked him Are you OK, Are you OK??? Or did Taylor was really KO'd???

Anyway, it was a great performance from both fighters...What irks me is the scoring from HBO's Harold Lederman that he had up to round 9 Taylor winning by 9 rounds to 0. Say what??? What kind of fight he was watching??? I saw the fight in Taylor winning by 3 or 2 points.

After that fight, I think none of the two were the same. It was the GREATEST VICTORY OF the great Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez' career

Chuck1052 · Post by **Chuck1052** » 28 Mar 2005, 05:03

I had Meldrick Taylor winning by a mile before Referee
Richard Steele waved it off. Julio Cesar Chavez was
catching punches with his face throughout the bout.
Yes, I admire Chavez. He could cut off the ring well,
punch to the body, and take a punch well.
But.....he was so easy to hit.

- Chuck Johnston

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 28 Mar 2005, 13:59

Say what you like about Steele's last second stopage, but without that split second call, this fight would've just gone down as an excellent fight that saw Taylor dominate and survive a late scare.
Ho hum...I doubt many people would remember it like they do now - a sensational last gasp win by The Great Chavez.
Much like the Dempsey/Tunney controversy, this one will be discussed for a 100 years, and never forgoten.

dondada · Post by **dondada** » 29 Mar 2005, 15:53

Chuck1052 wrote:I had Meldrick Taylor winning by a mile before Referee
Richard Steele waved it off. Julio Cesar Chavez was
catching punches with his face throughout the bout.
Yes, I admire Chavez. He could cut off the ring well,
punch to the body, and take a punch well.
But.....he was so easy to hit.

- Chuck Johnston

I disagree to a certain extent Chuck. I used to admire the way that, at his peak anyway, he would slip bunches of punches just by a quarter of an inch. On that night he was getting hit more than he ever had before, certainly. But that was because Meldrick was VERY GOOD!

And thanks for this thread...makes me feel old!

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 29 Mar 2005, 16:27

Didn't Duva say about Taylors badly cut mouth after the fight something like

"People say that Taylor lost about 2 pints of blood during that fight, but thats noncense, he swallowed most of it"

zurdo · Post by **zurdo** » 02 Apr 2005, 01:32

The Most dramatic fight I've ever personally witnessed...

The misconception is that Taylor was winning easily , He was not .
Taylor outsped Chavez though about the first 7 or 8 rounds.

Chavez knowing he was behind on points started to come on strong

Eventually Chavez closed in on him a pretty hellaciuos pounding in 9,10,11,12 the knockdown at the end of the 12th was just a culmination of that beating

the stoppage was legit.. when Taylor got up from that knockdown he was through

Steele was not aware that there was warning lights were flashing on the ringposts . His attention was focused 100% exactly on where it should have been, the Injured Boxer. terrible break for Meldrick But Steele made the right call

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 02 Apr 2005, 10:09

zurdo wrote:The Most dramatic fight I've ever personally witnessed...

I must get myself a full copy of this fight. I've only ever seen highlights before.

Nels · Post by **Nels** » 06 Apr 2005, 18:14

It's well worth it. I watched it again on St Paddy's day, out of respect, like.

Anyway, the thing that always gets me is the way Chavez's opponents used to get fucked up. People say "Ah, he used his head a lot" and I agree Chavez had Hagler's mentality/ability to utilise questionable tactics, but every guy he fought he fucked their faces up.

I watched the Rosario fight recently, and Martinez, and they ended up looking like gargoyles too. And Taylor looked like a car accident victim. JCC Superstar's heavy hands, I guess...

BTW: That quote from Duva's bloody chilling, isn't it? Was it me, or did too many of his fighters take pastings (Taylor, Biggs pop immediately to mind) that perhaps could have been circumvented...?

dempseyfire · Post by **dempseyfire** » 06 Apr 2005, 22:59

Upon first seeing it, it looks like the commentators saw it . . Taylor whups his ass before tiring in the 10th and gets overwhelmed by the ever strong Chavez. Upon further rewatchings, the fight becomes much closer. Taylor still won 8 of the first 10 rounds at least, but Chavez was hitting him with HARD shots to the head and body all night. Taylor was outlanding him and finishing the exchanges, but he lacked power and many of his flurries were arm punches. Chavez threw less but the ones that connected took a greater toll. By the 12th, despite handidly winning the fight, Taylor had taken a great beating. It´s a shame his corner stupidly told him to go at JCC in the 12th while he coulda boxed and held, but hey that´s what one of the things that makes the fight what it is.
It was one of those fights were the loser just couldn´t recover, mentally and to an extent physically, from getting SO CLOSE just to have the victory snatched away. It makes the ending of the fight slightly sad to watch, esp. considering Taylor´s state now (how he´s managed to remained sanctioned is a complete farce . . did anyone see him interviewed for Legendary Nights on this? He´s completly punch drunk . .)

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 08 Apr 2005, 06:38

I think he's finally retired now though hasn't he?

walshb · Post by **walshb** » 11 Apr 2005, 15:11

A justified stoppage from Steele. Meldrick was well ahead on my card but he was clearly in serious trouble when Chavez knocked him down. He took a lot of shots and Steele said it himself..."no fight is worth a mans life". Steele also said...."I'm not the timekeeper". As far as he was concerned, Meldrick was very hurt and unresponsive and no way was he gonna' let him take any more shots, which could have proved very serious for Meldrick...well done Richard

tiredoldngrey · Post by **tiredoldngrey** » 23 May 2005, 14:12

What a fight. The night it happened I watched it in a bar crowded with Taylor fans and it was very loud and I could not here the commentary. I gave Chavez the 2nd- he hurt Taylor with a hook- the 5th-when he hurt him again- the 8th, the 10th, the 11th and that that some others were perhaps close enough to go either way. My feeling was that the knockdown in 12 secured a decision for Chavez; I had him up by two. At the time the boxing wriers had it close, lambasted the judge that had Taylor by 7 or 8, said that Chavez deserved to win. Now, many of these same writers tell the story very differently and one would be led to believe that Chavez in fact landed nothing but that one right in the 12th. Also I purchased a tape of the fight a year or so back and heard the call by Lampley/Merchant for the first time and couldn't believe it was the same fight; the call was horribly one sided in favor of Taylor. Of course, it is sop for Lampley to call phantom punches for his favorites (see any DeLaHoya fight) but watch a round in slow motion and count up who is really landing the clean punches.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 23 May 2005, 14:17

Chavez vs Taylor I: 15th year anniversary

Chavez vs Taylor I: 15th year anniversary

Chavez-Taylor I

Re: Chavez-Taylor I