Julio César Chávez stopped Meldrick Taylor in the eighth round of their long-delayed rematch at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on September 17, 1994.
Billed as “Unfinished Business,” the fight carried the weight of their controversial first meeting. Taylor had outboxed Chávez for much of their March 1990 unification bout before being dropped late in the 12th. Referee Richard Steele stopped it with two seconds remaining, denying Taylor a points win and creating an argument that has lasted for decades.
The rematch came more than four years too late. Taylor had won the WBA welterweight title, but the fighter who returned to face Chávez was no longer the same physical specimen.
Terry Norris stopped Taylor at junior middleweight in 1992. Crisanto España knocked him out later that year at welterweight. Taylor had competed as high as 154 pounds before cutting roughly 30 pounds to make the 140-pound limit for Chávez.
That weight loss appeared to strip away his legs and stamina. The more troubling change was his punch resistance. Taylor had absorbed heavy head and body shots for nearly 36 minutes in 1990. In the rematch, the first clean left hand from Chávez produced a completely different reaction.
Taylor (32-3-1, 18 KOs) still possessed enough hand speed to win early exchanges. When he delivered combinations and pivoted away, Chávez had difficulty setting his feet. Taylor repeatedly abandoned that advantage, however, trading at close range along the ropes and in corners. It was the same tactical mistake he made during the first fight, only now he lacked the durability and physical reserves that had allowed him to survive for nearly 12 rounds.
Chávez (90-1-1, 77 KOs) kept advancing, worked the body, and forced Taylor to fight at his pace. Taylor also lost points for low blows. After seven rounds, one judge had Chávez leading 69-64, while the other two scored it 66-66.
Midway through the eighth, Chávez dropped Taylor with a left hand. Taylor rose at eight, dazed and bleeding from the mouth. Chávez immediately attacked with unanswered punches until Mills Lane intervened at 1:41.
The contrast between the two endings was striking. Steele had stopped the first fight while Taylor was upright with only two seconds left. Lane completed his count, allowed Taylor to continue, and stepped in only after Taylor covered up without returning fire. This time, there was little controversy.
Don King loaded the Showtime pay-per-view card with six world title fights, including Frankie Randall against Juan Martín Coggi and Félix Trinidad’s knockout of Yori Boy Campas. Yet the main event became a darker demonstration of boxing’s short shelf life.
Chávez avenged those who questioned the first result. Taylor received another chance to erase the most painful night of his career, but the beating he absorbed in 1990 and the punishment that followed had already taken away the fighter capable of defeating Chávez.
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