He'll always be known for the loss against Chavez, but I think he was a great, great and exciting fighter. The big problem is, he was like Haley's Comet, he came and went so quickly! Yeah, he had a draw with Howard Davis, but he beat a prime Buddy McGirt before McGirt gave Pernell Whitaker serious problems, and in a lot of opinions, won their first fight with a bum shoulder. Boxing is a brutal, cold game and it left Taylor in the cold. Terry Norris beat him after he was already shot, but he did beat Aaron "Superman" Davis (One of my favorites) and Glenwood "The Real Beast" Brown. He was a joy to watch and not afraid to mix it up for a guy without great punching power. I used to love his 7 and 8 punch combos.... The guy was super fast and had excellent footwork.
Good enough that he'd most likely be P4P #1 today. He'd make easy work outta Bradley, trash-Con, Peterson, Alexandra, Berto, Ortiz, and Maidana. I'd also favor him over the current Floyd, and Manny.
Let's not get carried away here, yes the talent level these days is not great all round, but Manny and Floyd are the exceptions. Taylor was a very talented and fast fighter but not as special as Manny or Floyd by a longshot. I'd favour even today's versions over Taylor, they're just better, and Taylor is easy to hit. Taylor wasn't a great fighter, just a very good and talented one.
Taylor could have been great, he merely chose to be great via a route he was not great at, namely slugging. Its ironic, but had he been born in any other city than Philadelphia, there is a good chance he might have made it as an ATG. All he needs is that win over Chavez and he has a foot in the door. He would have cleaned up in todays division at 140. Would have loved to see him in with Hatton, Tszyu. He could beat Hatton, might war with Tszyu a bit too much for his own good. He wasn't powerful, per se, and wasn't the hardest man of all time either, bottom line is that less talented fighters have taken more punishment from Chavez and not been anywhere near as damaged. Hard to make a case for him against the ATG's of the 15 round era, too many hard fights, the next too soon after the first, probably would have worn him out.
Taylor is underrated, IMO Very difficult fighter, incredible speed His willingness to slug it out wore him down, he could have been a little less gung-ho and he really wasn't meant to be a welterweight... but at his best, he was a handful
Very good fighter, would be the top dog at 140. I don't think he beats Pacquiao or Mayweather at 140, or 147. In regards to Chavez, I think his performance in terms of "pure boxing" skills gets overrated, but he showed amazing workrate and handspeed as well as good in-fighting ability. That jackass Ferdie Pacheco was saying during "Whitaker is fighting just like Meldrick Taylor" during the Chavez fight. No, Whitaker was winning due to his wonderful use of angles and defense. Taylor's defense wasn't all that good, but he was outworking Chavez. Agreed. I don't think his career would've been much different though if he'd beaten Chavez, or never fought him. Maybe he would've lasted a little longer at the elite level, but fighters would've capitalized on his weaknesses. That era was quite better than today's.
Taylor vs prime Tszyu is basically a pick em. If forced to pick, I'd go with Mel. But Tszyu would have a very good chance of stopping Mel late. Taylor would have beaten the living shit outta Hatton, and stopped him. Hatton would be target practice for Taylor.
I pick Mayweather to beat Taylor at 140-147 Pacquiao vs. Taylor is a pick'em....leaning toward Taylor speed, aggressiveness, agility to overcome Pacquiao speed and power....when was the last time Pacquiao fought anyone with significant speed??
I'd give my right foot to see prime Taylor vs Floyd at 140. Floyd was very good at 140. Obviously, Taylor was two light years better than bum ass Gatti, but I think Taylor's style and activity would have brought out the BEST in Floyd.
