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

[handsofstone]

I just watched Chavez-Taylor 1 today,it truly was a great fight and Taylor was brilliant, his hand speed was mesmerising and his punches looked hurtful plus he looked the better inside fighter but Chavez pipped him at the post,if the ref never stopped it I wouldn't complain and I doubt Julio could have really but I still see where the ref was coming from,he did ask Meldrick clearly if he could continue but he was preoccupied with his corner,wasn't Duva nearly in the ring?

At the end of the day,the time left should be irrelevant to the ref,all he should be concerned about is if the fighter is ready by the count,you can't help but feel sorry for Taylor though,at least he got a good book out of it DD

[Datsue]

I always think when I watch the last round whether something was a bit fishy about such a late stoppage .if you watch it normal speed its seems a very fast stoppage but when they show it in slow motion it looks totally diferent. Richard Steele is very close up to Taylor and is clearly saying every number lo loudly and clearly with his fingers also showing the count right in front of taylors face .But taylor is looking to his right probably at a screaming Lou Duva totally distracting him because when Steele reaches 8 clearly says `you ok' and looks closely at Taylor.He says it again but just `OK' then shakes his head and waves it off.That immediately catches taylors attention as he turns his gaze to Steele and says `what'.Steele later says he wasn't going to let taylor take another punch.But I doubt Chavez would have got across from the neutral corner and got one off anyway. Anyway my friend and I were big JC fans and would never believe that any thing was dodgy about the finish but our mate always said it was a fix and steele must have seen the red light flashing behind taylors head.I became less biased later but my friend didn't.He even scored the Whitaker fight a draw.Ijust thought i'd like to give my point of view that the film watched normal speed and I think `hold up that looks dodgy 2sec onds on the clock' but when viewed in slow it seems different and you see everything and Steele is concentrating on taylor But I think Lou Duva has to take some of the blame because he clearly distracts taylors attention while Steele is counting.This will be argued about for years and I think that if it wasn't stopped and Taylor gets the points win .Chavez would have won a rematch by ko because he put some damage on taylor that he had never had before and I think it was the type of damage that is long term .Taylor would not have been the same in a rematch as the damage physically and especially mentally had already been done,Idon't know whether he could have done it again regardless of whether Taylor would have won on points or not. DAVE B.

Good post.

[davbai]

I'LL keep this one short, I was browsing the boxing videos online on some site the other night and they had for sale a dvd of J.C.C and Taylor 1 and on the cover or possibly advertising it said ` A CRIME WAS COMMITTED IN THIS FIGHT' I can tell you I rolled up. when I read that. Dave.

[davbai]

Benvenuti won the first and third fights, Griffith won the 2nd. Griffith was 29 for the first two fights, and 30 for the 3rd.

gotcha, thanks.

You are right though you probably don't need me to tell you that, Griffith was born Feb 1938 so he was 30 and Nino was born april 1938 so was also. But me old mate Dick Tiger was born august 1929 so was 3 months short of being 40 when he beat Nino but sadly was dead 2 years later.I'm sorry if I butted in but I was never really a fan of Benvenuti. I think it's just a style thing . I prefer the northern American style like Mexico etc and the other central americans .But Nino was tall and had a great jab and a typical European straight up style and strangely some of the taller south americans like the argies were the same more like euros than latino. DAVE

[davbai]

Benvenuti won the first and third fights, Griffith won the 2nd. Griffith was 29 for the first two fights, and 30 for the 3rd.

gotcha, thanks.

You are right though you probably don't need me to tell you that, Griffith was born Feb 1938 so he was 30 and Nino was born april 1938 so was also. But me old mate Dick Tiger was born august 1929 so was 3 months short of being 40 when he beat Nino but sadly was dead 2 years later.I'm sorry if I butted in but I was never really a fan of Benvenuti. I think it's just a style thing . I prefer the northern American style like Mexico etc and the other central americans .But Nino was tall and had a great jab and a typical European straight up style and strangely some of the taller south americans like the argies were the same more like euros than latino. DAVE

Your little discussions and disagreements are great. I have found myself agreeing with you bothi at some point.I should have read more before sticking my oar in as you had previously mentioned somethings I later said.I think i'll just stay out of the commenting and just read

[davbai]

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

IF you want to see Gomez really, I mean REALLY fouling , you must have seen his fight against Zarate .It was all in there and ref Harry Gibbs lost control. He even hit Zarate on the floor after a knockdown and after the bell.It contained the complete A to Z of fouling. Gibbs must have only been thinking about how he was going to get out of the stadium in one piece

[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

IF you want to see Gomez really, I mean REALLY fouling , you must have seen his fight against Zarate .It was all in there and ref Harry Gibbs lost control. He even hit Zarate on the floor after a knockdown and after the bell.It contained the complete A to Z of fouling. Gibbs must have only been thinking about how he was going to get out of the stadium in one piece

Yeah, he was a rough kid, Gomez. I think I remember him smacking Juan Mesa right in the throat as well. Every big Mexican showdown I look for the drunk man from the Zarate v Zamora bout to jump in the ring.

[elmersalsa]

I have watched the fight twice last week, and THERE IS NO WAY THAT TAYLOR WAS WINNING BY A SHUTOUT! No way!

What was HBO's Harold Lederman was watching? That fight was a very close fight. I do not know what Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley were seeing, either. Even the great Sugar Ray Leonard had Taylor winning by a shutout? Are they crazy?

Rounds 9 through 11, Chavez was tagging Taylor with SOME WICKED SHOTS. They were combinations of beauty. Like someone said earlier, there is no way that Taylor would have made it to 15 rounds if the fight was scheduled for that distance. But boy, what a fight. One of the best fights ever in my view.