Espana Takes Taylor’s Crown and Probably Ends His Career

LONDON —  The meteorite that was Meldrick Taylor burned out for good Saturday night, at 25 years old and after only 32 professional fights.

But the flameout, which was completed by the eighth-round technical knockout inflicted upon him by Crisanto Espana of Venezuela in winning Taylor’s World Boxing Assn. welterweight title, actually began 32 months ago. That’s when Taylor was stopped with two seconds to go by Julio Cesar Chavez in what turned out to be Taylor’s finest performance.

Taylor was knocked out in four rounds by World Boxing Council junior middleweight champion Terry Norris in May and had hit the deck twice in his successful title defense against Glenwood Brown in January.

Since moving up to welterweight after the Chavez fight, the 5-foot-6 Taylor (29-3-1) has been knocked down six times.

“He ain’t fighting no more,” promoter Lou Duva said as the battered Taylor was taken to his dressing trailer. “If we gotta go to a commission, we’ll go to a commission. We’re gonna make him stop.”

About 15 seconds before this fight was stopped in the eighth round, Espana (28-0, 24 knockouts) dropped Taylor face-first with a left uppercut to the chin. But the fight continued long enough for Espana, a long-armed, 5-11 welterweight, to land at least a half-dozen more solid punches before referee John Coyle stopped the fight at 2:11 of the round.

Taylor, who was weeping in his trailer 30 minutes after Saturday night’s bout, issued a brief statement through a spokesman. “I haven’t made up my mind yet (about retirement),” Taylor said. “I’m going to take some time off, relax, sit down with my people and come to a decision.”