Meldrick Taylor vs Crisanto Espana

A world champion who had once come within two seconds of defeating Julio César Chávez was stopped for the second time in five months when the WBA welterweight title changed hands at Earls Court on October 31, 1992. The defeat was not the result of a single lucky punch. Crisanto España steadily broke down Meldrick Taylor, scored two knockdowns, and forced referee John Coyle to end the contest at 2:11 of the eighth round.

Taylor entered the ring with a record of 29 wins, three losses and one draw, but the quick hands and movement that had troubled Chávez in their celebrated 1990 meeting were no longer consistently present. He was defending the WBA welterweight championship he had won from Aaron Davis, while España, unbeaten in 28 professional contests with 24 knockouts, was the mandatory challenger. The Venezuelan, based in Belfast, was five inches taller and possessed a considerable reach advantage. The fight was promoted by Main Events, Champion Enterprises and M&M Sports, with Earls Court providing a large London setting for an American champion against an increasingly popular European-based contender.

España began behind a long jab and used his height intelligently. Taylor tried to close the distance, but España’s arms allowed him to touch the champion before Taylor could get close enough to work. The opening round was competitive, with Taylor having moments inside and España scoring more cleanly from range. In the second, the challenger’s right hand began to find its mark. Taylor was forced to take punches while entering, and España’s strength in the clinches made it difficult for him to sustain his combinations.

The first decisive incident came in the third. España landed a right hand that knocked Taylor onto his hands. Taylor rose immediately and tried to answer with a burst of punches, but the knockdown confirmed that España’s reach and timing were creating problems. Taylor was not being outclassed in every exchange, but he was being made to pay for every attempt to cross the gap. España kept the fight at a distance when he could, then leaned heavily when Taylor got inside.

The fourth round was another difficult one for the champion. España continued to beat him to the punch and used sweeping shots to keep Taylor from settling into his familiar rhythm. Taylor had his best spell in the fifth, forcing his way closer and working to the body. He landed enough to make España retreat and finished several exchanges with sharp flurries. It was Taylor’s clearest round, and for a short period he appeared to be recovering the form that had carried him through earlier title fights.

That recovery did not last. In the sixth round España struck Taylor low, sending him down to his knees. The referee deducted a point from the challenger, but the pause did little to alter the pattern. When the action resumed, España drove Taylor backwards with right hands and short follow-up punches. Taylor tried to answer, but his legs were beginning to betray him. His punches were wider, his exits slower, and he was absorbing too many clean blows before he could establish his own combinations.

By the seventh round, Taylor was spitting blood and bleeding beneath the right eye. España was not rushing recklessly; he was keeping his balance, placing his punches and making the smaller man carry the weight of the fight. Taylor continued to fight, but the exchanges had become increasingly one sided. The judges’ scores after seven completed rounds reflected España’s advantage, with cards of 68,64, 67,65 and 69,64.

The ending came in the eighth. España landed a left uppercut to the chin that dropped Taylor face first. Taylor got up, but he was badly hurt and had little left with which to defend himself. España followed him to the ropes and landed a succession of solid punches as Taylor sagged against the turnbuckle. Coyle stepped between them at 2:11, ending the fight and awarding España the WBA title by technical knockout.

Taylor was 26 and had fought only 32 professional contests, yet this was his third stoppage defeat in two and a half years. His trainer, Lou Duva, said afterwards that he would not allow Taylor to continue, while Taylor himself said he had not decided whether to retire. España had won through height, composure and sustained accuracy rather than wild aggression. For Taylor, the defeat marked the end of his reign and exposed the physical cost of the battles that had followed his finest performance against Chávez. It was a hard, methodical title loss, and one from which he never fully recovered.

I was sat ringside for Taylor’s defeat to Crisanto Espana. It was the clearest sign that the fighter who had pushed Julio Cesar Chavez to the brink was gone. I remember the old Taylor, fast on his feet, sharp with his combinations and able to punch in bunches before opponents could set themselves. At Earls Court, that speed had deserted him. He had already been stopped by Terry Norris earlier in the year, and Espana was the wrong man to face while carrying that damage.

Espana was tall, rangy and unbeaten, with a stiff jab and a long right hand that Taylor could not consistently get past. He dropped Taylor in the third round, lost a point for a low blow in the sixth, then battered him again before the stoppage. Taylor showed pride in the fifth, getting inside and working the body, but he could not sustain it. By the eighth, Espana’s punches were landing too freely, and the final knockdown left the referee with no sensible choice. Taylor had been a wonderful fighter, but this was not a disputed result or a lucky punch. Espana won because he was fresher, bigger and technically better on the night.