Give me Cervantes. Taylor was an excellent fighter in a lot of ways, & worthy of the world-stage doubtless, but he has become over-blown with time, on account of his horrible fortune, stemming largely from the first fight with Chavez. I sometimes feel Taylor's virtues are extolled at an unreasonable rate. Had he not endured the career-changing beating Chavez handed him at a young age (& you never hear this, but Taylor's fightplan was shifted by a bad knee injury he suffered the year before, making him just that little bit more hittable going into the first Chavez fight) he might well have gone onto more, but on the other hand, Cervantes is a little under-sold. The loss to a green Benitez & a raging Pryor late in his career seem to be the first things anybody wants to mention with him, but no one is interested much in talking about his greater attributes. I don't see why Cervantes couldn't win the decision here. Taylor was neither as slippery nor as intelligent as even a young Benitez, & he could not set the traps Benitez could, either.
Agree with the consensus, I think Cervantes would negate some of Taylor's incredible speed with his nice, long jab and would own the last third of the fight en route to a unanimous decision after a fast start from Meldrick
