I remember watching Julio César Chávez knockout Meldrick Taylor (TKO) with only two seconds remaining in the 12th and final round on March 17, 1990 that unified the WBC and IBF junior welterweight (super lightweight) titles. It was an amazing fight. That fight popped into my head during the 7th inning of our game with the Whiz last night!
Wet, FOGGY (like, you couldn't see outfielders from the dugouts foggy), humid, sticky were the conditions for the opening game of the 2026 55 Finals between the seasoned Cubs and potent Whiz. Both teams pretty evenly matched with pitching, defense and offense.
The Cubs jumped out to an early lead, landing jabs, hooks, a couple of right crosses that connected, a rib shot........then a BIG uppercut in the 2nd by Chris Dunn (bases loaded/bases clearing) double. Cubs cruising, through the middle rounds, great footwork, slipping punches, parrying and countering with a kidney shot in the 6th with 3 more runs. The plan was to dance around the ring, stay away from the big punches, cover up.........coast to the easy win!
10-1 in the 12th round (7th inning)....and then:
THUD......KA-POW.....BLAMO.....A Whiz jab to the head connects, right cross, body shot, upper cut, jab, jab, jab, left hook.......Cubs on the ropes, bobbing....weaving....jab, jab.....Cubs legs are weak, staggering......cut me Mick.......yo adrian......It ain't about how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.........the Cubs, covering up buying time to let the head clear.........CLEAR.......WHACK - one final blow from the Cubs ends the fight (a pop-up to the pitcher to end it)!
Holy moly - it was looking like Julio César Chávez and Meldrick Taylor all over again (well, minus the multi-million dollar purse, champagne, limousines, etc.) but there were Cheez-Its, pretzels, a 2004 Nissan Frontier and beer!
