Julio César Chávez vs. Meldrick Taylor
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| Date | March 17, 1990 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Las Vegas, Nevada | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBC & IBF World Junior Welterweight Unification | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Chavez won via 12th round TKO | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Boxer |
 JC Chavez |
 Meldrick Taylor |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | "The Great Mexican Champion" | "TNT" "The Kid" |
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| Hometown | Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA | |
| Pre-fight record | 68–0 (55 KOs) | 24–0–1 (14 KOs) | |
| Recognition | WBC World Junior Welterweight Champion | IBF World Junior Welterweight Champion |
The world championship bout held on March 17, 1990 between WBC world champion Julio César Chávez of Mexico and IBF world champion Meldrick Taylor of the United States, both at light welterweight, was a historic event in professional boxing. It was titled "Thunder Meets Lightning" as an allusion to the punching power of Chávez and fast handspeed of Taylor. The fight was expected to be a rousing and exciting one but few, if any, could have foreseen the intense action it would produce, or the lasting fame it would earn in boxing history due to its dramatic and controversial ending that continues to be widely debated to this day. It would later be named The Ring magazine's Fight of the Year for 1990, and later the "Fight of the Decade" for the 1990s.
From the mid 80s until early 1990 much of the attention given to boxing, particularly by the casual fan, was devoted to Mike Tyson. This served to overshadow a number of bouts and emerging stars in the lower weight classes. However, after Tyson lost to Buster Douglas in February 1990, it would give other bouts and fighters a new chance to shine. As Chávez-Taylor took place only a month later, it was one of the very first bouts to benefit from this. The fact that both Chávez and Taylor were undefeated champions with vastly different personalities and fighting styles certainly did nothing to diminish the pre-fight hype, which was intense.
Julio César Chávez was a legend in the making in his native Mexico. Already a three-time world champion in the Jr. Lightweight, Lightweight and Jr. Welterweight divisions, he brought an impressive undefeated record of 68-0 with 56 wins by knockout. That undefeated streak was the longest in nearly 80 years. In many ways Chávez was the epitome of the "Mexican" style of boxing: He patiently but relentlessly stalked and closed in on the other fighter, ignoring whatever punishment he took for the chance to dish out his own at close range, particularly in the form of a crunching body attack that would either wear down his opponents until they collapsed in pain and exhaustion, or became too tired to defend as Chávez shifted his attack to the head and went for a knockout.
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