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EPISODE: Episode 10
Lou discusses the match between Julio César Chávez vs. Meldrick Taylor, also billed as Thunder Meets Lightning, was a light welterweight world championship bout held on March 17, 1990 between WBC world champion Julio César Chávez of Mexico and IBF world champion Meldrick Taylor of the United States, both at light welterweight, which was a historic event in professional boxing.
Discussing the greatest boxing controversies throughout history, Lou Eisen offers his opinions and insights in this fantastic live-streamed series of episodes. Watch live on TalkinFight.com every Sunday at 2pm ET.
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#JulioCésarChávez #MeldrickTaylor #ChávezTaylor
Transcribed:
[, Music, ] hi, i’m lou eisen, and welcome to our special father’s day edition of rim talk today we have uh real doozy by the way the phrase doozy comes from the car duesenberg.
So if you saw great duesenberg in the 30s, that’s a real doozy meant.
That was something special.
This fight is something special.
This was march 17th 1990.
This was a super fight.
This was the fight.
Everyone wanted to see.
Junior lightweight championship with the world coming in was the uh pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet, julio cesar chavez from mexico who went into the hall of fame and a man who’s, not in the hall of fame, but i think deserves to be there.
Meldrick the kid taylor who held the ibf junior lightweight title: this was this fight was, as i said, march 17th 1990, and it was billed in meteorological terms.
It was thunder chavez versus lightning taylor, and both these guys were skilled.
I mean i love watching both of them fight.
The interesting thing you know is taylor.
Had a deep amateur pedigree chavez dinner chaka’s only had 12 to 14 amateur fights, he was a prodigy, but the reason he only had that many was his family was living in an abandoned boxcar in mexico and there’s no there’s no social welfare system down there, where, If somebody doesn’t have any money or the family’s broke, he can get help so they’re living in this car.
He follows his two brothers to the gym over boxing and chavez.
Wasn’T that not that physically being a man, i mean i’m taller than him not stronger than him, obviously, even at his age now but um he could punch with both hands and he was a vicious body.
Puncher and the thing about chavez was uh.
You’Ve heard of the term identic memory where people can remember things going back their entire life, you know or people that can read a whole book and remember everything they read.
I have a cousin with that chavez had an identic memory when it came to boxing everything he learned along the way from various trainers and older fighters.
It just stayed with him and he would be in a fight and his roller decks would be turning and he just knew what to do.
Taylor was part of the great 1984 uh excuse me.
Yeah 1984 u.
s olympic team considered the greatest uh olympic team for any country ever and taylor won a gold medal at the olympics in 1984.
In fact, in fact, taylor won all five fights.
Five, nothing didn’t lose a single round and i don’t think a single fighter line did a punch on him because he shut everyone out.
That’S how great he was just a phenomenal fighter and these two were circling each other in the pros.
Taylor was born in 1966.
Right during the height of the civil rights movement, he was born in philadelphia.
North philly philadelphia has produced as many magnificent great fantastic fighters in every weight division as any other city or country has going back 300 years.
It is a variable and virtual factory for prize fighting and in fact they say that the gym awards you have in a philadelphia gym are often as good, if not better than actual fights that you see on television and so taylor came up in that milieu.
You know he had, he had a good trainer coming up, he fought really well.
He was also a real gentleman.
Everyone liked him and you saw when you saw him earning his career.
You could see he had tremendous charisma, great personality, i mean he could open up a personality bank and make loans.
You know and great hand, speed, foot speed.
He knew the geography of the ring, great spatial perception.
He knew where he was in in relation to where the ropes were and where his opponent was at all times and his speed was was almost like a paradigm shift.
He could.
Actually, you could actually see this.
I only saw floyd mayweather do this during the fighter.
I saw this where a guy could launch punches at taylor.
Taylor could start his punches after his opponent did and still get there first.
You have to be phenomenally quick to do that and taylor could do that, and so he actually missed a tournament on his way up to the olympic games, because he wanted to graduate with his high school class at simon, ratz, uh high school in philadelphia and his Teachers all said: if we were going to have a son, we wanted to be wanting to be like taylor.
Taylor was just such a great guy.
You have chavez who didn’t have the benefit of coming up.
You know with with a small family.
He had a lot of brothers and sisters and they were broke.
Taylor’S family wasn’t well off, but it was close-knit.
He had an older brother who also became a professional fighter, and chavez is moving up through the ranks he starts off in in mexico starts fighting and you have to understand to a family that was making no money and was barely subsisting on food.
They could find outside the train empty train, uh cargo.
They were living in uh for shabbos to start coming home with 50 bucks or 100 bucks or 250 or three or 500 from fights was to them.
You know like someone winning the 80 million dollar lottery.
They couldn’t believe it and they kept going up and up and up and up and up and up and doing, better and better and better, and then he started to fight in the states.
He won his first title against mario martinez, a featherweight title.
But when you look at some of the names that um, i just dropped them down, but some of the names that he beat you know during his career.
It’S a hall of fame career.
He beat champions like juan laporte, the great puerto rican fighter, edwin rozero, who was a world champion johnny bump city bumpus.
That’S the best, nickname i’ve ever heard in boxing fighter that i adored uh the great bazooka le mans yeah.
He destroyed uh hector, camacho and uh.
He also beat rocky lockridge and he beat a lot of great fighters.
Um chavez you know was considered the best fighter pound for pound in the sport and his signature.
His mo modus operandi was, and he knew this better than anyone.
He was a vicious body.
Puncher chavez knew inherently that it, you know, kill the body, the head will die and i don’t know of any fighter other than tony sale.
Who did that better than chavez? He could dig his left hook into your liver and his arm to be up.
You know in your in your liver on your right side.
His left arm would be up to his elbow, i mean when he hit you.
He put his whole leverage behind that and, if you think about it you know somebody taking 125 pounds sandbag and hitting you in the side and your liver with it.
That’S you’re not going to last long, so he was great at that with chavez or with taylor.
Excuse me, taylor was great at anticipation.
He almost knew what his opponent was going to do before his opponent knew it himself and um.
Thank you dusty.
Yes, he could have opened the personality bank.
I mean he.
He was such a great.
He was such a great um had a great smile.
He was so charismatic.
He was a real professional.
He was trained by the great george georgie benton from philadelphia who was privileged to meet one of the all-time great trainers and was a great fighter, a light heavyweight in his own right and also by lou duva, who factored a lot into this fight.
So we have.
We have them moving up the ranks.
Um taylor wins the ibf title from the great buddy mcgirt.
He was a wonderful fighter in his own writings, one of the top several trainers on the planet.
Now, boxing trainers, great guy, very, very funny.
Guy maker could have been a stand-up comic, but malthur taylor dominated him with speed.
Mcgirt was very quick and, had you know strong, it was very strong and had heavy hands, but taylor just dominated him from the first round to the last, and people wanted to see this fight.
This was such a big draw.
Who would win? Who would you know, would it be taylor’s speed against chavez’s power, and everyone was wondering how each would deal with the other? How do you deal with a guy like chavez who, who wasn’t as fast with his hands or feet as taylor, but was stronger? Chavez was also quicker, and by that i don’t mean it.
Quickness and speed are two different things in blocking boxing.
Quickness is not like from a running start 100 year.
Dash quickness is when you see the opening and then you take advantage of it, and no one could do that quicker than chavez, and it wasn’t, he wasn’t thinking, there’s the opening i’ll do it.
The opening appeared and his arms almost worked independently of him.
That’S how joel lewis described it, so you have that taylor just from where he was moving and standing could really throw quick 8 10 punch flurries.
Not everyone would land and most of them weren’t that powerful, but over the course of a fight they would swell a guy up and they would do damage.
And if you keep doing that and the more you do it and the more of your punches you land, you’re gon na eventually stop the guy.
So what do you do? What do you do if a guy like chev is well? How do you beat power? Ali did it with speed.
That’S what angelo dundee always preaches.
Speed beats power, speed and mobility.
Speed, plus mobility beats power, so you know we have ali beating, listen, he beat a lot of guys that were much stronger than him chavallo.
You know, and oscar bonapina joe frazier, through speed mobility a boxing scale, and this is what taylor this is what the pre-fight plan was.
You don’t stand in front of a guy like chavez and trade with him.
That’S his fight and, as i’ve said before the great one of the all-time great trainers, charlie goldman, who trained marty cervo, he turned rocky marciano into a superman.
He always preached no one ever invents a game just to be beaten at it.
In other words, you don’t fight the other guy’s fight, because that’s what he wants you to do and you’re going to lose, and we saw this last night with the great canadian fighter.
Arter bitter bf and joe smith smith had longer reach, but he fought beaver.
Brigitte’S fight he want which he that’s the way smith fights he wanted to fight in close fighting in close and throwing short, accurate, punches and being technical being able to slip the other guy’s shots while getting euros own in and taking advantage of the other guy’s mistakes.
When he throws wide punches, that’s what bitterbeef did to spectacular effect – and this is what taylor was planning on doing.
Taylor was planning on out boxing him.
Why go toe to toe? If a guy likes chavez, you see all the fighters he beat before the black mamba roger mayweather was a great boxer who had power, but he walked through rosario had tremendous power and boxing skill, but chavez walked through him same.
You know all these guys that he’d fought and beaten camacho juan laporte.
You know rocky lockridge bazooka le mans.
They could all box well and had great power, but they all thought chav is his fight, and that was their mistake and taylor was going to do it differently.
He was going to be the smart guy.
He was going to get into the pocket.
He was going to unload his his combinations and then dirt out of the pocket before chavez could respond and then he would keep circling keep moving.
That’S what he wanted to do, because the more he could turn chavez.
The more chavez would have to reset and then chase them and to throw punches while you’re moving and chasing a guy.
It can be done, but it’s extremely difficult to do and to do accurately.
However, for whatever reason, when they got into the ring these guys, simply it didn’t turn out that way.
Chavez was a lot smarter and a lot cannier than people thought now.
It did turn out that way to the naked eye to the fan who was watching you’re watching the fight on tv and chavez is just quicker than him or excuse me, taylor is quicker than chavez.
Taylor is out hitting him and outlanding him at the end of the fight it was.
He outlined him by something like 200 punches.
Usually, punch stats aren’t really that significant, unless it’s 2 300 punch advantage, because you could win nine rounds of a fight and the other three you could lose the rounds by a landslide and in those rounds your opponent lands all his extra punches.
But in the other nine rounds you dominate the problem.
Here was yes: taylor landed, 458 punches and chavez landed 256, but chavez’s punches were much much harder and more effective.
So when you’re watching the fight by the rules of boxing taylor is outlanding chavez in the first round, he’s dominating him second round third round fourth round he’s winning the rounds he’s putting rounds in the bag because his hand, speed, is creating a paradigm shift.
It’S so much quicker in his foot movement than anything chavez would deal with before in his career.
However, however, the big but is from the first round on chavez’s quickness, began to come into play.
He found that he could counter taylor’s jab or double jab with a straight right hand, and there was a reason why he could do that, because taylor would throw the jab and like joe lewis, against max schmeling.
He wouldn’t he would throw the left jab.
He wouldn’t bring his hand right back up to protect or move back like ali.
Would he would just drop it because he thought he was so quick taylor or shabbos wouldn’t be able to catch him with a counter shot.
Chavez did capture capture him and catch him with counter shots all throughout the fight and after the first round you could see that chavez’s left eye was starting to swell a bit, and this was not a good omen.
Taylor was quicker, landing, more punches and eventually getting weight, but he was still backing out standing straight up which made him an open target and – and that was unfortunate because he was starting to take punishment – that he didn’t need to take.
He wanted to prove he was as tough as chavez and there was no need to prove that obviously you’re a professional fighter and a world champion you don’t need to prove you’re as tough as the other guy.
The people know that otherwise you wouldn’t be there.
I think he wanted to prove something to himself, so we’re going for you know the second round.
Third, fourth, fifth and taylor’s piling up the points and you’re looking after five six seven eight rounds – and you think well shabbos, hasn’t went around chavez knows even though his conor keeps saying you got ta switch and go to the head.
You got ta switch and go to the head you’re losing the fight.
Chabaz knew from his experience.
He’D had 63 fights up to that point right, and so i think at the time i have her written down here somewhere.
But you know, taylor, taylor had 20-something fights at that point and shadows had more knockouts than taylor had fights almost two or three times as many so shabbos knows, he can’t catch taylor in the head.
If he goes head hunting the whole fight he’s just going to lose the anonymous decision.
So how do you stop a guy like that? Well, taylor was willing to stay in the pocket too long, so shatters starts pounding his body and the more he pounds his body as the rounds go on.
The less taylor starts to move out of the pocket and move around he’s trying to but he’s becoming more static.
As the fight goes on and chavez is killing the body, they said so the head will die but he’s killing the body, so the legs will die and as the rounds progress from the early to the middle rounds, you see taylor taking more punishment.
His left eye started to close his orbital bone was fractured, his tongue was split, um nose was broken, he’d had a cut in training in his mouth, which bled quite badly and they didn’t delay the fight.
People say why would he delay the fight? Well, obviously, he’s from philadelphia.
You know a guy from philadelphia would have had to have the plague plus five heart attacks before he refuses to step in the ring.
Philly fighters are the toughest fighters on the planet ever and they’re.
Just not gon na go into the ring with with a scar or with the injury they’re not going to refuse to go into rain no fighter very few fighters go into a boxing match ever in history of the sport completely healthy, but in this particular instance the Cut was reopened and he started to swallow his blood, which was not a good thing.
It disoriented him it made him dizzy, threw his timing off a bit, but they kept telling him in the corner ludov and georgie benton.
You know you’re doing great you’re doing well.
Ben kept saying to him, though, to meldrick taylor stop standing in front of him.
Stop trading with him move you have to move your.
You know, use your mobility to turn him.
Don’T let him get his shots off, stop standing in front of him.
He also told them to by the way that he said, hit chavez on the shoulders to tire him and hit him in the hips to hurt his hips and then hurt his legs and taylor.
Did that the whole fight it just didn’t work.
Taylor didn’t possess enough power to get chavez to respect him.
He respected his skills but hitting him on the shoulders and hitting him in the hips just didn’t work with chavez when he fought taylor, so the fight goes on and it’s an incredible fight.
You’Re watching mel dr taylor, throwing these six seven eight punch, combinations chavez can’t block them.
He can’t see them and taylor moves out of the pocket, but during the fight there’s always those you know moments where chavez is able to catch uh taylor before he moves out of the pocket hit him in the body right hand to the left eye keeps he Just keeps hammering his his eye his nose chavez is not missing, with his jab he’s being out punched two to one and other times three and four to one, but his punches are heavier, so chavez is losing on the score cards on two of the scorecards.
But he’s winning the overall war he’s just not winning every single battle, and this was a tough fight for taylor.
Taylor needed his fight to prove his legacy.
Taylor had beaten good guys before and, as i said, i made a list of the guys.
You know that taylor b he beat robin blake martin quiroz, aaron davis, glenwood brown.
I mean these were all really quality top-tier fighters that he had beaten, but chavez was going to be his masterpiece and the factor.
The controversy from this fight stems from the fact that they’re getting down to brass tacks: it’s 10th round 11th run after the 11th round, taylor’s taking a tremendous amount of punishment, he’s ahead on two of the three scorecards.
Only chuck giampa incredibly has chavez ahead.
Your its effect of aggressiveness is what you score on, but also the other guy’s landing more punches.
He wins the round, but i guess chuck champion didn’t see it that way.
Anyways after 11th round, taylor would have received a lot of punishment and got hit some really good right.
Hands to the chin went to the wrong corner.
He didn’t know where he was, and so richard steele had to guide him to his own corner after 11th round.
Chavez’S corner sing to him you’re losing the fight chavez, hadn’t lost yet 86 and oh, i believe he was coming into it or or i think 63.
You know my mistake and he hadn’t lost and lost a fight and they said to him you’re behind the scorecards.
You need a knockout and, of course, they said to taylor, just run, move and run potato, wouldn’t do that.
He would not listen, and so he comes out and he they touch gloves and taylor goes right after him and chavez can’t stop him.
But taylor is quite injured about a minute into the fight you have to remember at this point, taylor swallowed two pints of his own blood.
So that’s a lot and he’s obviously concussed.
He was never the same again after this fight, and people were worrying that we’re broadcasting fight watching it at ringside.
That taylor may have suffered serious permanent brain damage from this fight, because no one had ever hit him that much in the course of a single fight.
So about a minute into the 12th and final round, shabbos lands the right hand and taylor’s staggered, but he hangs on they walk to the ropes and he’s trying to finish strong he’s doing his best to finish the fight, strong he’s, throwing punches and bunches, but he’s Fighting on muscle memory now he’s got really nothing behind his punches and he’s exhausted, and he traps chavez against the ropes about a foot from his own corner from taylor’s corner and he’s throwing punches.
And then chavez executes one of the most ring-savvy moves in boxing history and he did this throughout his whole career.
Shabbos loved the trap, guys by laying on the ropes, putting his hands up letting them come after him, and then he would spin off the ropes and turn the tables and that’s exactly what he did.
He spins off the ropes he ducks under a punch from taylor and then throws a right hand and taylor fell like he’d been shot.
He just hit the ground in a heap.
He was hurt and at that point, when he knocks him down, there’s 13 seconds left in the fight, i believe 12 or 13 seconds left in the fight.
It’S a significant point at this point in time.
The audience is going crazy and the fighters can’t hear themselves and they can’t hear referee richard steele, so taylor gets up and as he gets up, lou duva against the wishes of georgie benton and other people in the corner gets up on.
The ring.
Apron and says is screaming at richard steele and screaming at meldrick taylor and getting on the ring apron when the fight’s still on is an offense for which you can be disqualified.
Richard still would have been within his right to immediately disqualified elder taylor.
He didn’t he didn’t look at ludova who was standing, maybe a foot and a half screaming at them.
He was looking at meldrick taylor.
Taylor was concussed and duvas said.
You know, you’d.
Think you’d.
Think when there’s that much noise, you can grab the fader fader fighter by the face just hold his face gently and say you know, are you? Are you want to continue? He didn’t ask him that he said.
Are you okay and taylor blinked and looked at him and he said, are you? Okay and taylor looks to the side at duva and when he comes back richard still waves, the fight off with two seconds to go still said.
He was only concerned with the welfare of meldrick taylor and not with how much time was left in the fight.
He said he wasn’t aware of how much time so, there’s a lot of things going on.
Should the fight have been stopped? I believe no harold letterman, who i adored and knew his business better than anyone else who was one of the great ring judges of all time said richard steele did the same thing.
So the problem here is many fold.
Blue dubas should not have got up in the ropes, that’s number one.
He distracted taylor and georgie benton, never forgave him for that.
Now it’s unlikely that meldrick taylor over the noise of the crowd heard richard steele.
The other factor is when you knock the man down.
You have the guy doing the knock down the guy scoring the knockdown has to go to the furthest, neutral corner chavez didn’t do that.
He was lurking in mid-ring.
Steel should have turned to look at him and say to him go to the corner.
He didn’t do that.
That was a mistake.
Had he done that the fight would have ended before he would have had a chance to stop it.
A lot has been made.
Well, they stopped the fight.
There was only two seconds left and still said.
I wasn’t aware.
I don’t buy that that’s not possible because in the 11 previous rounds, when there were only three or four seconds left in each round, he was right there with his hand, up ready to jump in.
It isn’t feasible to me that he could be aware of how many seconds were left in the first 11 rounds, but not in the very last round.
It’S his job to know exactly how much time is left or within a couple seconds of how much time is left.
Also he didn’t ask meldrick taylor.
Do you want to continue? He said to him: are you okay now, because it was so loud? I don’t think taylor heard him.
I may be wrong, but i don’t think he heard him and taylor being a world champion.
His own right deserved steel.
Having doing again, richard still should have asked him again.
I think he should have asked him a third time and said: do you want to continue or you even could have said? Can you hear me, do you understand me if he doesn’t answer that, then you can stop the fight, but even asking a third time.
The bell rings the fight’s over, so the big argument was always: he stopped it with two seconds left.
Well, let’s take the time equation out of it.
Let’S say the time is irrelevant.
It doesn’t matter how much time is left well, then you have to make sure the fighter hears you and if he’s not responding at all, then you stop the fight.
It’S unlikely taylor heard him still didn’t confirm.
He didn’t say, can you hear me mildrick? You know and look right there in his eyes grab his face.
Can you hear me he didn’t do that and then he stopped the fight.
There wasn’t enough time left if he waved it on for either fighting to throw another punch.
Steel, even peripherally, had to see the red light go on when taylor uh got knocked down, kayla gets knocked down and even if you’re looking down at him on the canvas, you notice through the corner of your eye, the red light.
So still, okay, less than 10 seconds gets up supposed to give him an eight count.
He actually counts to nine still has to know by that point.
It’S his job that there’s maybe three two or two seconds left in the fight.
That’S it that’s it! That’S all the time that’s left, so i said just a couple seconds: let’s take the time equation out, that’s hard to do, but if you do even at that point, a world champion still deserves to be asked a third time.
Can you hear me, do you understand what i’m saying to you or what referees have done for years? If you don’t respond, i will stop the fight and the same thing happened.
I believe with uh amir khan and danny garcia, and that’s i don’t.
I don’t know that might have been richard steele, i’m not sure, but the referee said.
Can you hear me? Do you understand what i’m saying amir khan did not respond? Referee stops the fight, it’s the correct thing to do.
In this case, he asked him twice: twice should be sufficient, but in this case it wasn’t because when you factor in the noise in the end, was it the right thing to do to stop the fight? Well, if you look at the damage incurred by meldrick taylor, i mean the fight could have been stopped earlier than that when he first got staggered, but you’re not going to do that because he’s fighting back.
I think, in my humble opinion, that taylor was robbed of his greatest victory, that if they’d gone to the scorecards, he would have won a split decision.
Inexplicably chuck giampa had jabba’s ahead, but he was going for the more effective blows rather than the quantity of blows, which is understandable when scoring a fight in most circumstances, so the effect has had on meldrick taylor.
He never really got over.
He recovered from his physical injuries.
Most uh neurologist neurosurgeons brain specialists think that he did suffer lasting brain damage uh.
After this fight he had 21 more fights in which he won 14 and he lost seven and at the end of his career, he was listening to guys that were not at his level.
He ended up being knocked out uh by um chavez when he fought him again five years later in four rounds or in seven around eight rounds.
Excuse me and terry norris stopped him in a vicious fight.
Uh for the uh super welter title and never should have fought terry norris norris was tremendous.
Tremendous boxer and puncher uh chavez went on uh.
I have it down here to have, i believe, 46 more fights of which he won.
38 lost six and drew two, but, as i said with taylor, you know, since he retired he’s had a lot of problems mentally.
He wrote a great book called two seconds from glory he’s a wonderful person, but the damage he suffered was lasting not only physically in on his brain but mentally, and it was just it breaks your heart when you watch this, because even the announcers, the broadcasters they’re, Not always right, but we’re saying unbelievable.
I can’t believe he stopped the fight with two seconds left and you know at the time there were so many things that were going on.
As i just said, shabbos hadn’t gone to the neutral corner, lou duval, which is a point people always bring up to me.
They say lou, you bring up all these good points, but duval was on the canvas.
Steel could have said.
Okay, fight’s over you broke the rule.
You’Re not allowed to be on the ring apron during the fight.
Maldrick is disqualified, but still didn’t do that.
He gave meldrick a chance, but he didn’t ensure that meldrick actually heard the questions he was asking and therein lies the heartbreak.
If you haven’t seen his fight go to youtube because meldrick taylor put on they both did put on a tremendous display of boxing.
They raised boxing to the level of an art form, but it was a brutal art form.
Indeed, uh chavez was smart and cunning.
He didn’t waver from his fight plan throughout the entire fight he just kept going for his body and when taylor stayed in the pocket too long right hand to the left eye closed the left eye and that’s why, when he dropped taylor with 12 seconds left, i Don’T think terry even saw the right hand you know and to me it was just the herculean feat that taylor was able to get up.
He was looking at richard steele.
His eyes were focused.
I just don’t think he could hear which to me tells me he was concussed but, as i said before, you you have the time factor and i thought, and i said well, let’s take the time factor out.
It’S almost impossible to take the time factor out.
You know there’s so many things going on in this boat, but in my estimation i think taylor should have been given the chance to finish the fight.
At that point, no, i knew what his injuries were.
Uh steele knew that he’d taken a lot of punishment, but there was only two seconds left still had to be aware of how much time is left taylor deserved the victory.
It would have changed his whole career.
I think it would have changed how he thought about himself and how people viewed him.
It would have got him into the hall of fame.
It may not have changed his career actually now that i think about it, because for the simple fact that he took so much punishment, he was never the same again and it it affected him and still affects him to this day.
Uh shabbos fought him again in 94 and knocked him out and chavez continued being chavez he fought on long after he should have fought, but a lot of fighters do that, and that was because don king stole a lot of chavez’s money.
Taylor, right now has very little or no money, and unfortunately they, you know that happens to a lot of fighters.
They put on one of the greatest fights that i have seen and i think that ever occurred in the 322 year history of modern boxing.
This was boxing skill and technical ability at its highest level, combined with strength and intelligence, and you have to give chavez credit for sticking to his game plan, and you know he he he wasn’t complaining like he did later in in some of his much later fights.
He wasn’t making excuses.
He said he was the quickest guy.
I ever fought, interestingly enough chavez a while later fought his uh taylor’s olympic teammate pernell whitaker.
I thought whitaker beat him every round and it was considered a draw chavez knew he got lucky in that one and whitaker who whittaker, who was brilliantly uh sublime, just maybe the greatest pure boxer of all time.
Um was ripped off in that fight too.
Chavez had don king and always got the bedroom for the doubt, but i think there were several mistakes made.
As i said before, richard steele uh the time – and you know, we can’t help the fact that taylor was concussed and that he wasn’t necessarily aware of what was going on had lou dover, not distract him.
Would it have made a difference? We don’t know we’ll, never know.
We can’t really comment on that, because taylor looked at him for his footsteps, looked back at steel and and did not respond.
It’S it’s a tremendous fight with um an unsatisfactory ending.
It wasn’t supposed to end that way.
Everyone thought it would end either with a chavez knockout or taylor, winning by a points decision.
That’S what should have happened, but in boxing it can’t go by should’ves or ifs.
They don’t count.
You know and as ray arcel once said to me in boxing, you can only go by fact.
The fact is taylor put on the fight of his life and got stopped with two seconds left.
It’S heartbreaking to anyone that loves boxing and loves these fighters.
But that’s the way it happened on march 17th and of that year in 1990 and 89.
Excuse me – and it just takes my breath away watching it was such a tremendous display of futuralism and it made the sport look good.
It put the sport in a good light, except for the way that the fight ended.
So, in contrast to last night’s fight with peter biev and joe smith that ended the way everyone thought it would ended, thought it would end if you knew boxing anyways.
So this has been our father’s day edition of ring talk.
I hope you’ve enjoyed it.
Sorry if i’ve been a bit repetitive, but i want to wish you happy father’s day to all the fathers looking out there and watching the podcast.
I want to wish you happy father’s day to eric boyce who’s the producer and to his father, graham for providing me with this uh forum, and i hope you guys go out and enjoy the rest of your father’s day.
And if you get a chance, please watch the meldrick taylor, julio cesar chavez, first fight on youtube and then text or email me at lewis and rogers.
com to.
Let me know what you think of how the fight ended.
Thank you very much for watching enjoy the rest of your day.
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