James McGirt vs Meldrick Taylor

Meldrick Taylor won the International Boxing Federation junior-welterweight championship at Harrah’s Marina Hotel Casino in Atlantic City on September 3, 1988, stopping James “Buddy” McGirt in the twelfth and final round. McGirt’s manager, Al Certo, entered the ring waving a towel as the champion reeled against the ropes under Taylor’s attack. Referee Randy Neumann halted the contest at 2 minutes of the round. There had been no knockdowns, but McGirt had taken sufficient punishment for the intervention to be justified.

Taylor, the featherweight gold medallist at the 1984 Olympic Games, entered with 19 victories and one draw. He weighed the junior-welterweight limit of 140 pounds. McGirt, two pounds lighter, brought a record of 38 wins, one defeat and one draw and was making the second defence of the title. He had won the vacant championship by stopping Frankie Warren in the twelfth round, avenging his only loss, and had then knocked out 1976 Olympic champion Howard Davis Jr in the first round. McGirt and Taylor had originally been matched for June, but the contest was postponed when the champion suffered tendinitis in his left elbow. McGirt was a narrow favourite and had suggested that Taylor’s Olympic reputation, rather than his professional record, had secured the opportunity.

The opening round was fought at a severe pace. McGirt attempted to establish his authority immediately and caught Taylor with a left hook in the opening seconds. The punch shook the challenger, but Taylor recovered without retreating and answered with rapid combinations. McGirt later said he expected the hook to weaken Taylor and realised, when it did not, that the challenger would be difficult to discourage. Taylor’s eagerness was such that Neumann had to restrain him after the bell in each of the first three rounds.

Taylor took command during the second and third. His speed was not confined to his hands. He moved his head and shoulders before punching, slipped McGirt’s returns and changed position before the champion could reset. McGirt remained technically sound but was being made to work at a rate which did not suit him. Taylor threw in clusters, often finishing with the left hook or straight right, while McGirt’s more measured replies arrived too slowly to interrupt the challenger’s rhythm.

By the fourth round, Taylor was moving with greater freedom. He shuffled in and out of range, made McGirt miss by narrow margins and countered immediately. McGirt, ordinarily a clever and accurate boxer, was reduced to following him and throwing single punches. Taylor became careless in the fifth, moving inside without adequate defence, and McGirt struck him sharply with a right to the jaw. The blow checked the challenger’s recklessness and persuaded him to return to the more disciplined boxing which had established his lead.

The sixth, seventh and eighth rounds were increasingly one-sided. Taylor maintained a pace McGirt could not match, punching in combinations and forcing the champion to defend before he could begin his own work. By the seventh, McGirt was moving heavily and pawing with punches which had lost much of their force. A deep cut opened above his left eye, adding to his difficulties. When he returned to his corner, he was breathing hard and assured his handlers that he was trying, but Taylor’s speed and volume had left him few opportunities to alter the course of the fight.

McGirt produced his best recovery in the ninth. He landed a solid right to Taylor’s jaw and pursued the challenger with greater purpose, winning the round on all three official cards. Determination, not renewed strength, sustained the effort, and he could not maintain it. Taylor resumed control in the tenth and eleventh, moving around the champion’s slower attacks and striking from several angles. McGirt continued to resist but could no longer compete evenly through a full round.

Taylor entered the twelfth with a clear lead yet showed no inclination to preserve it. He pressed the exhausted champion, driving him backwards with rapid punches to the head. McGirt’s legs became unsteady, and he reached the ropes without offering an effective reply. Certo climbed through the ropes to end the punishment, obliging Neumann to signal the stoppage. The judges’ totals after eleven rounds confirmed Taylor’s superiority: Vincent Rainone had him ahead 108-101, John Stewart 107-103 and Richard F. Murry 106-103.

McGirt acknowledged afterwards that Taylor had been the better man. The champion’s damaged left arm may have contributed to his performance, although he had stopped Davis between the postponement and the eventual meeting. Taylor’s speed, stamina and willingness to fight at close quarters had been the governing factors. He improved his record to 20-0-1 and became the fifth member of the celebrated 1984 United States Olympic team to win a professional world championship. The victory began a reign which continued until his disputed stoppage defeat by Julio Cesar Chavez in March 1990. McGirt recovered to win the IBF welterweight title from Simon Brown in 1991, but at Atlantic City he had been decisively beaten by a younger fighter operating at the height of his powers.

I rate this as Meldrick Taylor’s finest performance. Buddy McGirt was no ordinary champion. He was clever, technically sound and had just demolished Howard Davis, but Taylor made him look slow and short of ideas.

McGirt caught him with a good left hook in the opening round, yet Taylor took it and immediately raised the pace. From there, the speed difference was frightening. Meldrick slipped punches, changed angles and fired four or five shots before Buddy could answer with one. It was not empty activity either; those combinations gradually cut McGirt up and took the strength from his legs.

McGirt rallied in the ninth, showing the quality and pride that later made him a welterweight champion, but he was finished by the twelfth. Al Certo was right to throw in the towel. Taylor was not merely faster that day. He was stronger, sharper and mentally dominant. This was a first-class fighter at his absolute peak.