Page "Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Meldrick Taylor" Paragraph 4

Taylor's brilliant hand and foot speed and boxing abilities gave him the early advantage, allowing him to begin building a large lead on points.

He frequently hit Chávez with dazzling combinations and danced around the other man, making it difficult for Chávez, a skilled combination puncher who relied on an accumulation of damage to knock out his foes, to land more than one blow at a time.

However rather than become discouraged Chávez remained relentless in his pursuit of Taylor and due to his greater punching power Chávez made sure that Taylor had to pay a terrible toll in order to win rounds.

Coming into the later rounds, Taylor was bleeding from the mouth, his entire face was swollen, the bones around his eye socket had been broken, he had swallowed a considerable amount of his own blood, and as he grew tired, Taylor was increasingly forced into exchanging blows with Chávez, which only gave Chávez a greater chance to cause damage.

While there was little doubt that Taylor had solidly won the first three quarters of the fight, the question at hand was whether he would survive the final quarter, especially after the end of the 11th round when Taylor was so dazed that he nearly went into Chávez ' corner between rounds, until referee Richard Steele directed him back to his own.