Julio Cesar Chavez Vs. Meldrick Taylor - The Aftermath

The Aftermath

To this day, Steele's decision remains controversial and hotly debated. Many fans believe Taylor should have been allowed to continue because there were mere seconds remaining in the fight he was ahead on the scorecards, or that he should have been allowed to continue because it appeared that he might have given a slight nod to Steele when asked "Are you okay?" Others agree with the decision, arguing that another good punch would have caused irreversible damage to Taylor, especially considering the tremendous damage Taylor had absorbed already and that he needed an extended stay in the hospital to recuperate. Additionally, Taylor continued holding on to the ropes throughout the referee's count to steady himself and could not give a coherent response to Steele. Still other fans comment on the fact that Steele appeared to ignore a flashing red light that served to signal that there were less than ten seconds remaining in the round, and believe that Steele went out of his way to end the fight.

Because Chávez was promoted by Don King and Steele had made decisions that had been questioned in other King promoted fights, there was widespread speculation over whether King had somehow bribed Steele, particularly when it came to light that Taylor's trainer Lou Duva had specifically objected to the appointment of Steele and been overruled by the boxing authorities. Some also cited the apparent discrepancy between how Steele responded in this bout and his actions two years before this match in the bout between Thomas Hearns and Iran Barkley. In that bout Barkley first knocked Hearns down in the third round and a discombobulated Hearns appeared to be in no shape to continue but Steele let him go on, stating after the fight that a great champion like Hearns should be given the chance to pull himself together. In contrast with this, after the Chávez-Taylor fight, Steele told interviewer Larry Merchant that when he sees a hurt fighter he is stopping the fight, regardless of the time left.

While allegations of corruption and bribery were never proven and strongly denied by both Steele and officials like Mark Ratner, the head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, it remained a cloud over Steele's mostly exemplary career as a boxing referee. Afterward Steele, (who until then had been viewed as one of the foremost referees in boxing) was involved in several cases where he appeared to stop fights too soon or made other controversial calls, and as a result he gradually was picked less and less to be the referee in top caliber fights. Steele eventually retired in 2006, and today runs a nonprofit boxing and MMA club for troubled youth.

Chávez' status as an emerging legend was cemented by the bout, and for the next several years he was widely considered the best fighter in the world. His unbeaten streak would stretch to 89-0-1 before he suffered his first loss, to Frankie Randall. Towards the end of his career Chávez began to cut easily, a tendency that would cost him several fights. Like many fighters he continued to fight even after time had diminished his skills, and would go in and out of retirement several times. He retired for good after a loss on September 17, 2005, in a bout where he claimed to have injured his hand. His final career record stands at 108-6-2. He holds several records, including for most title defenses and championship fights.

It is popularly believed that Meldrick Taylor was never the same physically or psychologically after the Chavez bout. Famed sportswriter William Nack said he had never seen a boxer give so much as Taylor did in the fight. Nack claimed that Taylor's "prime" was literally beaten out of him and was thus gone forever. Dr. Flip Homansky, who examined Taylor following the fight and immediately sent him to the hospital, summarized his injuries by saying "Meldrick suffered a facial fracture, he was urinating pure blood, his face was grotesquely swollen... this was a kid who was truly beaten up to the face, the body, and the brain". Taylor also showed signs of disorientation and short-term memory loss common to head injuries and concussions. This was perhaps most notably shown in the post fight interview with boxing commentator Larry Merchant, where Taylor insisted that Steele had ended the bout without giving him a count or asking if he was ok until he was shown a replay of events.

Although Taylor would continue fighting and succeed in winning another championship, the brilliance that he displayed both during and before the Chávez fight would prove elusive afterwards. A crushing fourth round knockout loss to Terry Norris in 1992 spelled the end to Taylor's career as a top-level fighter. He was also knocked out in a 1994 rematch with Chávez. Taylor continued to fight on and off for years, but never again in fights of any note. At the same time, rumors of brain damage circled around him, and eventually numerous boxing districts within the U.S. refused to grant him a license to fight. Perhaps most stunning was his appearance and speech during Legendary Nights, an HBO documentary series that profiled some of its most famous bouts. The episode dealing with Chávez-Taylor showed Taylor's speech to be extremely slurred and at times nearly incomprehensible, quite a change from the articulate young Taylor that many fans remembered. Taylor's final record stands at 38-8-1.

Meldrick Taylor still resides in his native Philadelphia. On May 15, 2009, Taylor released a book titled "Two Seconds From Glory" detailing the fight with Julio Cesar Chávez along with other controversial subjects.