Page "Julio César Chávez" Paragraph 12

On March 17, 1990, he faced Meldrick Taylor, the undefeated IBF Light Welterweight Champion, in a title unification fight.

While Taylor won the early rounds, Chávez rallied in the later rounds, scoring a knockdown with seconds remaining in the final round of the fight.

Although Taylor rose at the referee's count of six, he did not respond coherently to referee Richard Steele's questions and continued to hold onto the ropes all along.

Steele stopped the fight with only two seconds remaining.

Many boxing fans and members of the media were outraged that Steele would stop a match that Taylor was winning with only two seconds left, while others felt that Steele was justified in stopping the fight given Taylor's condition and the fact that he was unable to respond to Steele before the conclusion of the match.

Steele defended his decision by saying that his concern is protecting a fighter, regardless of how much time is left in the round or the fight.

As Steele put it, " I stopped it because Meldrick had took a lot of good shots, a lot of hard shots, and it was time for it to stop.

You know, I'm not the timekeeper, and I don't care about the time.

When I see a man that has had enough, I'm stopping the fight.

" The Ring named it the " Fight of the Year " for 1990 and later the " Fight of the Decade " for the 1990s.

While many hoped for an immediate rematch, Taylor moved up in weight in his next bout and the fighters did not meet again until 1994 when Chávez dominated and then knocked out a faded Taylor in eight rounds.