Chavez vs Taylor I...25 Years Later it is Still a Classic

[palooka]

Gomez v Pintor was a high class battle of wills, I loved the way Pintor nodded at Gomez when he got up from the 14th round knockdown and Gomez opened his gloves in recognition and then closed in for the finish. What a fight.

Leonard v Benitez, anyone?

[Counter-puncher]

Aye i think pintor Gomez is very close to taylor-Chavez in terms of aggregate talent and skill in the ring, and i m o even better for brutal action. I am pretty sure from memory- haven't seen it in a couple of years- but rounds 3,6,9 and 12 happen to be particularly ridiculous, generally the same pattern, Gomez lands a good shot maybe buzzes pintor a little, throws the kitchen sink for a minute or so, gasses, then plays catcher to the very large tin of payback-is-a-bitch that Pintor hurls back at him. Watch it back someone, I'm sure its 3/6/9/12

[Counter-puncher]

And we have mentioned on here before, gomez's fouling in that fight is fvcking spectacular. Its like he'd spent an entire month studying pedrosa dvds in preparation

[palooka]

And we have mentioned on here before, gomez's fouling in that fight is fvcking spectacular. Its like he'd spent an entire month studying pedrosa dvds in preparation

Yeah, I can remember the hard as nails, stoic Pintor gesturing to the ref and Gomez about the elbow. Gomez was a bit of a twat.

[Counter-puncher]

Stoic, damn right & nicely put

[Seamus]

Can anyone name another fight, where one guy appeared to so thoroughly dominate the other, YET sustained such damage ?

[Counter-puncher]

Can anyone name another fight, where one guy appeared to so thoroughly dominate the other, YET sustained such damage ?

the first that comes to mind is cotto widely outboxing margarito but being really bust up even before margarito started taking over around the 6/7th round. But that was a bit more superficial than Taylor getting his face smashed in.

[elmersalsa]

I just cannot believe that HBO's Harold Lederman had the fight like 9 rounds to 2 in favor of Meldrick Taylor. What fight was he watching? I believe that Taylor was winning the fight, but not that far. Ridiculous!

[Counter-puncher]

I just cannot believe that HBO's Harold Lederman had the fight like 9 rounds to 2 in favor of Meldrick Taylor. What fight was he watching? I believe that Taylor was winning the fight, but not that far. Ridiculous!

its not that uncommon. I have seen quite a few people give similar scores.

i think i maybe have Chavez 3 or 4 out of 11.completed.

for me, i think there are periods where Taylor is moving his hands a lot but not doing very much damage- there were some stupid flurries of about 30-odd punches where the commentators and maybe the judges got excited but ultimately showed the kind of wastefulness of energy that left Taylor as vulnerable as he was late on.

mind you, taylors flurrying throughout the fight is just so fast and athletically-impressive its difficult not to be totally engrossed by it. Its only that i am such a massive Chavez fanboy that i have been watching with mates shouting 'but look at Chavez landing' whilst they gay out over Taylors work.

[Datsue]

I just cannot believe that HBO's Harold Lederman had the fight like 9 rounds to 2 in favor of Meldrick Taylor. What fight was he watching? I believe that Taylor was winning the fight, but not that far. Ridiculous!

its not that uncommon. I have seen quite a few people give similar scores.

i think i maybe have Chavez 3 or 4 out of 11.completed.

for me, i think there are periods where Taylor is moving his hands a lot but not doing very much damage- there were some stupid flurries of about 30-odd punches where the commentators and maybe the judges got excited but ultimately showed the kind of wastefulness of energy that left Taylor as vulnerable as he was late on.

mind you, taylors flurrying throughout the fight is just so fast and athletically-impressive its difficult not to be totally engrossed by it. Its only that i am such a massive Chavez fanboy that i have been watching with mates shouting 'but look at Chavez landing' whilst they gay out over Taylors work.

[elmersalsa]

It got to be that. It also could be nationalistic emotions in part of Lederman

[palooka]

Can anyone name another fight, where one guy appeared to so thoroughly dominate the other, YET sustained such damage ?

I remember watching the James Toney v Prince Charles Williams and I thought Prince Charles was doing well, pressuring Toney to the ropes and muscling and swarming. I was seeing it all wrong, Prince Charles was getting countered up and down and got broke down steadily.

[meahdem]

no stick from me, great fights between two great light fly's, yeh i'm sorta changing the criteria great fighters in great fights turns out there's not loads, was at me old fellas today and was asking him great fighters in great fights straight of he's monzon v nino benvenutti, spinks v eddie mustfa.
i'm sticking hagler v hearns in, and i'm going out on a limb with gomez v pintor.

Jesus fvck of course, Hagler-Hearns!!!! Christ!!!

& yes totally Gomez vs Pintor. & Spinks vs EMM, yep.

I have to say though, sacreligious as it is, I thought Monzon vs Benvenuti was... Kinda... Boring. Both of them. Just... Something about the styles. Didn't appeal to me aesthetically, like.

The three Benvenuti-Griffith fights though, I thought they were mint... One of 'em's really good, can't remember which one now...

watched monzon v benvenutti today some old grainy black and white footage on you tube with italian commentary i dont know any italian but the pudendum sounded cool. as for thr fight can see where your coming from, while i wouldn't say it was boring it's more that while the rounds were close you just couldn't see monzon losing the fight, also i was thinking that nino boxed just like a middleweight ken buchanan. i was checking out nino record and i didn't know he won his world title before his ebu title that surprised me, also the first griffith fight was fight of the year and they was both down so i'm thinking thats the corker.

[Counter-puncher]

Benvenuti as a middleweight Buchanan is a really good comparison i m o. Even more so at the lower weights (cept then of course he wasn't a.middleweight but, you know, anyway)

[Ambling Alp II]

Benvenuti was a much better fighter than Buchanan though. Not even close.

[Counter-puncher]

Who suggested otherwise?

[Rexob]

He did not have Taylor's attention when he asked him if he was OK, (Taylor was distracted and looking at his corner) and then he stopped the fight.

Incompetence or crooked?

He stopped Tyson-Ruddock without looking at Ruddock to see if he was hurt.

Whenever this fight gets brought up, I always bring up the Tate-Olajide fight that Steele officiated. (As far as I know, I am the only one on the Forum who has seen this fight even though it was on national TV). Tate hurt Olajide several times during the fight and gave him a one-sided beating. The fight should have been stopped in the middle rounds, but Steele somehow let it go the entire 15 rounds. Taylor was not hurt nearly as badly or nearly as often as Olajide.

He seemed to pick and choose when he wanted to stop fights early.

It was a great fight and too bad that it ended like that.

It was a great fight, made even more so because of the late stoppage.

[Ambling Alp II]

Who suggested otherwise?

I'm sorry; I guess I misunderstood you. I thought you were.

[Counter-puncher]

I should have maybe gone into a little detail on the comparison, both quite upright fighters, good footwork, great left hands which they both used frequently. Both white dudes. Stylewise alone i thought he made a really good comparison, do you see where I'm coming from?

[Ambling Alp II]

OK. I thought you were saying that they were about even as far as how good they were. Benvenuti was better and was clearly the harder puncher of the two. Agree that there are some style similarities.

[Broomhall]

I should have maybe gone into a little detail on the comparison, both quite upright fighters, good footwork, great left hands which they both used frequently. Both white dudes. Stylewise alone i thought he made a really good comparison, do you see where I'm coming from?

I agree with you man. I will alsorun the risks of insults from Alp and think that Buchanan was the better man. Benvenuti fought the majority of hs fights in Italy, Buchanan had to get on the road.

[Counter-puncher]

I love ken but i think his record would fall short of benvenuti's in terms of longevity. In terms of their best victories i don't know enough about benvenuti's to comment, really, but again buchanan's roster looks a bit thin maybe? Tho the Laguna wins were strong and the narrowish one over Watt that was somewhat disparaged, i believe, at the time, obviously got better in retrospect.

[Tomasino]

I take your point that meldrick Taylor isn't easy to class as a great. I think he was great for a very short period, ie about 10rds of the Chavez fight. Before that, slightly unfulfilled potential, after it half-ruined.

That's why its a select list. Cos i have to stretch Taylor just a little to include it. Also pryor as a great would be a tiny stretch maybe, but i could and would.make the same cavil i did with Taylor ie pryor certainly was a great for the 14rds he flung himself at Arguello. Same with qawi holyfield, qawi a great?

Yes Qawi is a great. He has been great in a few fights and he's one of my all time favourites, so short for the weight and for his limited experience he was very crafty. A fighter through and through.

[meahdem]

I should have maybe gone into a little detail on the comparison, both quite upright fighters, good footwork, great left hands which they both used frequently. Both white dudes. Stylewise alone i thought he made a really good comparison, do you see where I'm coming from?

yes C.P thats the point i was making just thought they had a similar style, which i didn't know before watching that fight as i've never watched nino's fights before. damn good fighter, as was buchanan.

[elmersalsa]

Benvenuti was a much better fighter than Buchanan though. Not even close.

LOL......Alp will always be a Ken Buchanan hater. Like if Nino was MILES AHEAD of him. Both fighters make their all time top 20 weight class. Both were champions of their country and Europe and the whole entire world. Both lost to the greatest fighters of their respective divisions: Roberto Duran and Carlos Monzon.... There is no shame on that. Nino probably was a little better than Ken if we put the gold medal into this. But Ken had to fight abroad to gain respect. Nino fought more in Italy and became a national icon. I think he is the best fighter Italy has produced.

But to say that they were not even close? Buchanan had better boxing skills if you ask me. LOL