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Boxing - The BEST bouts youve ever seen.

El Duque

Bench
Messages
3,845
You don't think Taylor looked Dazed. Chavez hit him with a right hand with about 25 seconds left in the round and his knees buckled and he unsteadily went to the corner when he was hit with a crushing right that dropped him.

Heclambers to his feet when Steele reaches 5 and Steele continues counting till 9 then he asks Taylor twice if he's OK and gets no response.

Taylor puts up no protest as he's out on his feet and is using the ropes to hold himself up.

It's Steele's job to protect the fighter and one more hit could've killed Taylor who had taken a massive beating. Chavez ruined Taylor with that beating, not Steele.
 
Messages
26
I'll agree that we'll disagree on this. We seem to be going around in circles.
You have your outake on this fight and I have mine. Richard Steele coupled with Don King ruined Meldrick Taylor's career. Lou Duva didn't help. Not Chavez.
:)
 
V

Vertigo

Guest
This is a fight I have to see. Good discussion guys.
Aaron,
Check out the below link for purchasing fights over the internet. A friend here purchased maybe 40 tapes off him and was very pleased with what he got. I'm not sure he sends overseas, but I beleive he does have the fights on Australia's PAL playback system. It may be worth sending him an email.
[url]http://championboxing.expage.com/id2.html[/url]
V.
 

El Duque

Bench
Messages
3,845
It is a must see, Vertigo. Everyone has an opinion on it and the stoppage and it makes for a healthy convo. Some agree with Steele and others don't. Frankly I thought Steele's stoppage of Tyson-Ruddock I was pretty premature.

Anyways not that this proves anything but here's some pics of the conclusion.

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Chavez connects with a big right hand

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Taylor hits the canvas

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After asking twice if he's OK and getting no response Steele's stares into the eyes of Taylor

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Steele waves off fight as Taylor looks like he's in Disneyland,

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The face of a beaten man.
 

Atilla'

Juniors
Messages
22
Great chat guys.
Chavez-Taylor One (there was a rematch)was certainly a gem of a fight. This fight is worth it's rant in gold. Do what you have to and find it somewhere. You'll be a better fan for it.
Trojan Horse makes a good argument and revealed things I didn't know, but I have to agree more so with ElDuque here. Taylor was the quicker puncher but Chavez was the much harder puncher. Taylor did dominate the earlier rounds with his speed and flare, but what many forget was, even in those early round where Taylor seemed to be dominating, Chavez was certainly hurting Taylor slowly with many brutal head and body blows that went unnoticed by many at ringside and on tele because of Taylor's showmanship. Chavez was slowly but surely brutalizing Taylor throughout the 12 rounds. Whether this eventually proved Taylor's downfall or not is a matter of opinion. My opinion is it did.
Meldrick Taylor urinated pure blood for two full days following this fight. Pure.His kidney's and liver were full of blood upon medical inspection at the ER among many other internal organproblems. Chavez simply bashed this young man from no-return.He was both a battered and bruised young man. This fight left Taylor with severe brain bruising which he still sufferes from, and displays in his speeech even to this day. If you had of seen Taylor before this fight, he was a brash young man full of confidence and life (much in the Roy Jones Jnr league). Today though,Meldrick Taylor has a severe speech inpediment with next to no co-ordination in his actions,and a wayward gait. It is a real sad sight. It was this fight directly which paved the way for MT's current sad state of health. It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. Sincerely.
I agree that this fight did ruin Taylor's career, in many ways,but I don't believe it was only Steele's fault. On one hand he should have let Taylor win the belt/fight and not stop it as the kid did deserve it, but the flipside is he may just have saved Taylor's life by doing so. We'll never know. Thankfully for the sake of the later. That's all I'll add.
To those who may wonder where Meldrick Taylor is now.....
Where are they now?
Meldrick Taylor
Two Seconds to Glory April 12, 2003

It doesn't sound right, but some prizefighters are pacifists. They make their living in the ring, and probably they're not too happy about it, but they do it because they're good at it and can make a few bucks so what the hell. They take care not to do much damage while they're in there and they don't risk much either. They want to get in, do their thing, hope no one gets hurt and then get out and pay some bills.
There are those too, thankfully, who are on the other side -- who fight because it's what they love to do. They need that hard contact: gloves cracking against jawbone, skulls banging together, the blood in the eyes, the thrill of the pain and the exhilaration at the brutal end. If they didn't need money to live they'd be just as happy fighting for nothing.
It is one of nature's better jokes that neither temperament is bound to an appropriately corresponding set of talents. Roy Jones, for example, has the weaponry to have stopped every professional fighter he's ever faced and a good number he hasn't. But as far as fighters go, he's a pacifist. So he lets guys hang around. That's him.
You can say Meldrick Taylor was the opposite of Jones even if it gives the wrong impression. But he was. He had fast hands and good wheels, too. He could box and move and barely get hit when he was in the mood to do it that way. He wasn't a big hitter. He never was. But he fought a lot of the time like he was. He loved the rumble. He loved the action. That's what got him going.
"I didn't like to box all the time," Taylor said recently. He's 36 now and only semi-retired from the ring, but more on that later. "It was too boring. I wanted to get in there and mix it up. Maybe I was too brave for my own good."
It was said often throughout Taylor's career, and particularly in the latter stages, that he had too much Philadelphia in him. You know, too much of the stuff that's been floating around in the gyms there for the past hundred years or that runs through the water and makes Philadelphia fighters too often braver and tougher and more in love with the fight than they should be.
"That might be a fair assessment," said Taylor, who more or less ended his career with a record of 38-8-1 (20). The thing is, he never really had a choice. He was all fighter, right from the start. He grew up in North Philadelphia, hoping to emulate older brother Myron, a heck of an amateur who grew into a pretty decent professional featherweight. He first put on gloves at eight years old. He proved a prodigy, winning his first national title at 15. Two years later he found himself in Los Angeles on the 1984 US Olympic team with future world champions Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield and Mark Breland. In the finals, Taylor whipped Nigerian Peter Konyegwachie for the featherweight gold. He was 17 years old.
"Winning the gold medal was phenomenal," Taylor said. "I had dreamed about it for so long and then finally made it a reality. I worked so hard for it then when it happened it was surreal." Taylor signed with the Duvas and turned pro later the same year, eventually bulking all the way up to 140. He won 12 straight and his strengths were obvious: he had impossibly fast hands, and he was mobile and skilled. But he fought angry. Sometimes he fought like he had a bigger punch than he did and it got him hit when it wasn't necessary. But his chin was sturdy enough and anyway that was the way he liked to do it and you couldn't tell him otherwise.
In August 1986 Taylor drew with Olympic gold medal winner and lightweight title challenger Howard Davis Jr. It didn't slow him down. Eight fights later he challenged Buddy McGirt for the IBF junior welterweight title. McGirt, known today as one of the game's best young trainers, was 38-1-1 and making his second defense of the belt. He was a superb craftsman in the ring and had twice the number of fights Taylor did. It didn't bother Taylor.
"I had to win it because he was considered a big puncher," Taylor said. "I was the underdog. He didn't respect me. He said he would knock me out. In the first round he tried. I was in a corner and he hit me with his best punch. After that I took over with my speed. He was a very good puncher and he was very game - he kept trying the whole fight but I out-speeded him." Taylor stopped McGirt in the 12th round.
Taylor defended twice and took a couple of non-title bouts before engaging the most important fight of his career against living legend Julio Cesar Chavez. By this time Taylor had convinced many that he was among the best fighters in the world. But Chavez already was a three-division champion, owner of a 68-0 record, and the consensus best fighter pound-for-pound on the planet. More than the undisputed junior welterweight title was at stake.
"It was inevitable that we would fight," said Taylor. "He was considered the best fighter in the world and that's what I wanted to be. In order to be the best you have to beat the best. I would fight anybody. I've never backed down from anyone. I didn't feel a lot of pressure. He had much more experience than I did. And I still got a lot of respect and acclaim even though I lost."
On St. Patrick's Day 1990, Taylor and Chavez took one another to places few fighters have gone. For 11 and 3/4 rounds they struggled against defeat and against one another. Taylor was faster and more active. Chavez was more accurate and heavier-handed; by the end Taylor's face was swollen and bloody. It was a magnificent display of brutality and will and going into the final round Taylor led on two cards. He needed just to stay away and the fight was his.
He couldn't do it. It wasn't in him to. He fought the way he had all night, more or less right in Chavez' range and with about 15 seconds left Chavez landed a short right that hurt Taylor and another sent him down. He rose and turned to trainer Lou Duva, who was on the ring apron, shouting. Two seconds remained on the clock -- not enough time for Chavez even to cross the ring. Referee Richard Steele stopped it.
Today Taylor is philosophical about the loss. "I don't feel bitter at all about it. It was for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. I was never meant to beat Chavez." It was THE RING magazine's Fight of the Year and later its Fight of the Decade, too. But in the eyes of many Taylor paid a heavy price. A lot of guys will tell you he was never the same. He disputes it and makes a reasonable argument, asking how he was able, then, to go up in weight and win another world title (the WBA welterweight title from Aaron Davis). "The Chavez fight didn't ruin me," he said. One fight doesn't ruin you."
That may be. But things went downhill from there. Taylor made two unimpressive defenses of the welterweight title before junior middleweight champion Terry Norris massacred him in four rounds in a fight Taylor knew he shouldn't have taken because of the size difference. But after winning a nationally televised bout, Norris had called Taylor out. "I couldn't back down," he said. Afterward he dropped back down to defend his title and was brutally stopped in eight rounds and dethroned by hard-punching Crisanto Espana.
Taylor's last big fight was a rematch with Chavez. It happened in 1994, about four years too late. Taylor blames dueling television networks for delaying what would have been a wonderful rematch, and blames himself for losing to Chavez again. "I was using my speed early, then I decided to go punch-for-punch," he said. "We rocked one another in the sixth round but I fought the wrong fight." Chavez stopped him in the eighth.
Since then Taylor has fought sporadically and without very good results: wins over a couple of journeymen, losses to several. Almost universally within the business there is a sentiment that he shouldn't be fighting. His words tend to slur into one another. Those who have seen him in action insist his skills have seriously eroded. But Taylor remains true to himself: Obstinate. Stubborn. Proud.
"It's bogus. A lot of fighters can still fight (when they get older): George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Ray Leonard. Why is there a double standard for me? I went to Mexico and beat the shit out of that guy over there (respected journeyman Kirino Garcia, who won a decision over Taylor in February 1999). Get the tape. I won 10 out of 12 rounds but it was in his backyard so they gave it to him.
"I beat the hell out of that guy in Denmark, too (Hasan Al, who decisioned Taylor in August '98). But it was in his hometown in Denmark so they gave it to him. I busted him up and beat him up. If I'm so washed up how am I beating these guys? Why aren't these guys knocking me out? I'm losing decisions in their backyards."
Taylor last fought in July 2002, dropping a decision to prospect Wayne Martell. He says he still can beat any top-10 welterweight in the world if they give him the chance but he refuses to sell his soul "to make other guys money that want to use my name. If I don't get any TV fights I'm not fighting, because if the fights aren't on TV I'm not going to make any money. I'm not going to waste my time."
So he is semi-retired now but busy. He just finished writing his autobiography, "Two Seconds to Glory." He is a minister, has been for eight years at the Israel Church of God & Jesus Christ in Philadelphia. "We have schools and teach in all the inner cities of America." He has a website too -- meldricktaylor.com -- where you can get T-shirts and videos of some of his old fights, or even hire him as a personal fitness trainer or nutritional consultant.
He denies having regrets. "What should I regret? I did a lot of things most people never get to do. I was a two-time world champion. I fought in one of the greatest fights ever. All things happen for a reason. This is the way things go in life." He paused an inserted an afterthought: "Maybe I would have fought smarter and not played to the crowd so much. Hector Camacho said he never cared that the crowd booed him, as long as he won the fight. Maybe I should have been more like that."
Perhaps. But he couldn't be more like that. It wasn't in him. Fighters, like the rest of us, can only be every day who they are - pacifist or warrior - and there is no higher calling than that. With Taylor, there was no mistaking.
Written by: William Dettloff
http://www.hbo.com/boxing/watn/taylor.shtml


 
Messages
26
Good post indeed Atilla. Thanks for the article on MD's current state and whereabouts.
You also supplied information about the Taylor/Chavez aftermath I wasn't aware of. I never knew Meldrick Taylor was in such a bad state following this fight. To urinate blood {or pure blood as you expressed} for two daysfollowing this fight, among other internal organ problems, clearly displays that Meldrick Taylor took a beating to greater lengths thanI first thought/believed. His current state of health {going on your explaination} is distresing to read/hear about indeed. I do remember the audacious, nimbleand buoyant young Meldrick Taylor prior to this fight that you also made mention of. It saddens me to read, learnand think about his current state.

Just to note: Meldrick Taylor prior to this fight, had engaged in 25 professional fights. Of those 25 professional fights, he had not lost a bout until the Chavez showdown. These were two undefeated champions going into warat the time. Taylor's 26th professionalfight should also have been a win.
 

Atilla'

Juniors
Messages
22
Sorry that didn't work the way I wanted. Go tho thelink below to view a brief account of the Chavez-Taylor fight. You'll see a clip of the KO, as well as the talkedabout speed of Meldrick Taylor. The young man was like lightning.
It's the second fight from the top of the page. Scroll down.
http://www.hbo.com/boxing/video/
 
V

Vertigo

Guest
Those HBO Legenday Nights Series of documentaries shownhere are truly something else. Very well put together.I don't know how I missed the Chavez V Taylor fight. I've emailed HBO in the hope that they will be turning this series into a video for sale to the general public.
Do you all outside of the US get this series also? Those in Aus, GBand NZ?
V.
 

Infuzer

Juniors
Messages
101
We don't get jack here compared to what you all get in the US. :mad:
The Legendary Nights thingysounds like a worthwhile series. I guess I and many others here willnever know though.
emthdown.gif

 
Messages
15
not meaning to change the subject but kostya tszyu has offered a challenge to cory spinks, which means tszyu will go up in weight to take on the ibf welterweight champ. apparently spinks has declined but states on the net he will fight anyone.
 
Messages
341
<span>Time Tunnel: Chavez-Taylor and the controversy of the stoppage</span>
chavez.jpg

By Janne Romppainen You knew it would be a classic fight. How could it not have been? The battle had everything needed for a great drama: from the red corner, weighing in at 139½ pounds, with a professional record of 68-0, 56 knockouts, the longest unblemished streak of a fighter in 78 years, the reigning WBC light-welterweight titlist, the living legend, the pride of Mexico, Julio Cesar Chavez. And from the blue corner, weighing in at 139¾ pounds the Olympic champion, with a professional record of 25-0-1, 14 knockouts the IBF light-welterweight boss Meldrick Taylor. The juxtaposition was so evident: Chavez’ aggression, punching power, toughness, body punching, experience and the Mexican pride versus the astonishing hand-speed, slick movement, great reflexes and boxing technique of the young American. The 12-round bout would decide who would be the leader of the division and regarded as one of the best fighters pound-for-pound in the world. The crowd, heavily behind Chavez, could not wait for the opening bell. Chavez was the favourite of the bettors. He was known as a slow starter but many expected his body attack to take its toll and wear the flashy Taylor down after middle rounds as it had done for so many opponents in the past. There was another view too though. The ones who favoured Taylor pointed to his unnatural talent and boxing ability and seemingly great stamina and picked him to outbox the 27-year-old legend. The date was 17th March 1990, the place was Hilton Center in Las Vegas, USA. The first mega-fight of the nineties that would turn out to be perhaps the best and the most talked-about of the whole decade. The first surprise of the fight was seen in the very first round. The confident, pumped-up Taylor did not avoid close exchanges against his heavy-handed foe. He started the fight brilliantly, moving side to side, flicking out a snappy jab and firing combinations. Chavez tried to start faster than usually was his style and forced his way inside landing some heavy shots early but Taylor stood right there and answered with lightning fast combos. For every shot that Chavez managed to land he had to take two or three in return. The first round was highly action-packed and exciting, which would mirror the rest of the fight more than well. The same plot continued for the most part of the second round. Taylor was still in control with his movement and combinations. He also showed some interesting if questionable tactics punching at Chavez’ hips, trying to reduce the movement of Chavez. Taylor was still winning most of the exchanges but Chavez had just started to turn up the heat. Late in the round he caught Taylor with solid right hand leads and left hooks that seemed to stun the American slightly. Also Taylor’s left eye had already started to swell. The rounds three and four continued to follow the same script. Taylor was clearly winning the fight but it was far from being one-sided. Whenever Chavez landed, he did so with authority and even though Taylor took the shots without wobbling, it seemed as Chavez was doing damage with them. Taylor compensated the quality of punches with quantity and continued outlanding Chavez in the exchanges. Chavez showed some marks of frustration as he wasn’t able to dictate the tempo of the fight and at the end of both rounds Taylor raised his hands, motioning that he was indeed winning. The fifth round was revealing. The fighters battled for full three minutes shoulder to shoulder, in a phone boot fight, never clinching each other. This was supposed to be Chavez’ best game but he still wasn’t able to take over. Taylor seemed to have an answer to anything Chavez tried. Taylor’s chin which some thought was yet unproven held up easily for Chavez’ best bombs and he continued to outland the Mexican warrior. In the last minute of the round Chavez landed three solid shots and the round was a close one to score. In the next stanza Taylor added a bit more movement and he was in charge again. Chavez was not able to drive him to ropes or corners and in the middle of the ring Taylor more than held his own in the exchanges. When the bout was at halfway stage after six rounds, things were not looking good for Chavez. In the eyes of many, he had lost every round so far. What was more alarming was that his punches did not seem to slow Taylor down enough for him to capitalize for it later. Taylor’s eyes were bruising and he was bleeding from a cut inside his mouth but his movement was still as slick, his punches still as sharp as in the beginning of the fight. Taylor had punched twice as much as Chavez according to the Combubox stas and even though his connection percentage was smaller that Chavez’, he had outlanded his foe in every round. Chavez was in no danger of going down himself though. Taylor had landed many very good, clean punches but Chavez’ granite chin held up. The seventh round was a return to the phone booth war. The combatants stood chest to chest, working beautifully on the inside. The momentum had not changed, the pace was still tiring, Chavez landed the harder shots but Taylor landed more often. His face started to look worse to wear every second but it didn’t affect him. The eight round was more tactical but the ninth was breath-taking. It was another three-minute chapter of skilful inside action. Taylor controlled the round early but Chavez finished it stronger. In the last minute of the round it looked like Chavez’ bombing was finally taking its toll. Taylor did not wobble but his reflexes started to fade and he had to eat more shots than earlier. In the end of the ninth round the referee Richard Steele, almost invisible so far, gave Taylor his first severe warning from hitting below the belt. This was the first time Steele played some part in the action but it wouldn’t be the last. Rounds ten and eleven were brutal. Chavez’ punches were finally taking their toll, he was now clearly hurting Taylor. Taylor still stood up for him and continued answering with combinations. Chavez won both of the rounds but it was not easy, Taylor wasn’t giving him anything for free. After the eleventh round a dramatic scene was seen: Meldrick Taylor followed Chavez and was on his way to a wrong corner until the referee Steele guided him. It was evident that Taylor didn’t have much left. The last round was going to be high drama. Meldrick Taylor was way in front on nearly every onlookers scorecards but he was in bad shape. His face had bruised horribly, he was forced to swallow his own blood, he was exhausted. His trainer George Benton instructed him to go and fight in the last round with everything he had, he felt that Taylor still needed the round to seal his victory. In the other corner, bleeding, beaten, desperate but determined Chavez waited for the bell. He knew that he would need a knockout to pull it off. He was punished but still unbowed. “Do it for you family”, begged Chavez’ cornermen. The round started. Chavez went at Taylor but he didn’t put up any furious attack. He was too tired himself to do that. Instead, he tried to take Taylor apart with well-placed hard shots. Taylor, who had fired over thousand punches during the fight still continued to put combinations together. After one minute had gone, Taylor went down after his own punch. He was badly tired. Even so, he seemed to make it to the final bell. Chavez was landing but Taylor was still standing without even buckling. He still was able to punch back. The time was running out from Chavez’ clock. When there was half a minute left in the fight, the fighters drifted to another inside situation. When there was 24 seconds left, Chavez landed a solid right cross right on Taylor’s chin. It froze Taylor’s legs for a split second and Chavez jumped on him. When he got his feet moving again, he came forwards stumbling, throwing punches more instinctively than deliberating. Chavez backed away and they drifted to a neutral corner. Chavez stepped to his right and fired a left-right-left-right combination. Only the last punch connected, but it was a thunderous shot clean on Taylor’s chin. When there were sixteen seconds left in the fight, Taylor’s back hit the floor. Taylor knew immediately where he was. He held his right hand up, grabbed a rope and pulled himself on his when Richard Steele had reached five in his count. At this point there were ten seconds left. Steele completed his manadory eight count and, probably instinctively, counted also number nine. When there were seven seconds left, Steele took a hard, close look on Taylor and asked “Are you okay?” Taylor didn’t answer, he was watching to his right over Steele’s shoulder, apparently looking for instructions from his trainer Lou Duva who had climbed to the ring apron. Steele asks again “You okay?”. Taylor turns his head but too late. Richard Steele has made up his mind and waves the fight off when there are four seconds left in the clock. The official time of the stoppage would be 2.58 of the 12th round, Taylor was knocked out of time two seconds before the end. Chavez was the winner, held now two titles and was still undefeated, now in 69 fights After the fight there was much to talk about for sure. Points have been made both to back up Steele’s decision and to criticize his actions. Here are some of the most often heard arguments: Steele’s decision was wrong because: - There was only seconds left in the fight. If he had let the fight continue, Chavez couldn’t have landed another punch. As the scorecards were later revealed, it turned out that Taylor would have won via split decision. - Taylor was up and standing with seemingly sturdy legs. Many feel that a champion should have a chance to fight until the end
- After Steele asked Taylor “Are you okay” for the first time, Taylor nodded his head slightly. In the post-fight interview Taylor and his trainer Lou Duva claimed that it was a reaction to Steele’s question.
- After Steele asked him the second time “Are you okay?” he didn’t give Taylor a chance to answer, instead he waved the fight off immediately
- There were red lights in the ring corners that went on when there was ten seconds left in the round. During the eight count it seems like Steele looks right at the light and thusly he should have known that there was not much time left
- Behind Steele’s back, Chavez had left the neutral corner where the referee had instructed him during the count and after Steele had completed the count, Chavez was already almost in his own corner. Had Steele noticed this, he should have stopped the count and take Chjavez back to the corner before resuming with the count. Had he done so, the fight would have ended before he had completed the count and thusly Taylor had won.
Steele did the right thing because: - The time left in the clock shouldn’t affect the referees ruling. There is no exception rule for this kind of instances. That is why the referee is supposed to rule the last twenty seconds just like he would rule any other twenty-second part of the fight.
- Taylor couldn’t give him an answer when he asked if he was all right. In those cases, the referee has no option but to stop the fight.
- Taylor had taken a bad beating during the fight. He was in bad shape and one more punch could have done him some serious damage. Steele was a very experienced referee and at the time most people thought that he was the best in his job. He took a close look on Taylor and felt that he had had enough.
The debate about the outcome will continue for years but the result stays. A rematch was made four years later but Taylor was no more the same man and Chavez stopped him easily in eight rounds. After this bout Chavez reached ninety fights without a loss before Frankie Randall was able to defeat him. Chavez retired in 2001 with an illustrious record of 104 victories, five defeats and two draws, 85 knockouts. Taylor went on to win another title but he had lost his peak forever. The last time he was seen in the ring was in 2002 when he dropped a decision against a fighter named Wayne Martell. Taylor’s final record read 38 wins, 8 losses and a draw with 20 knockouts. Today Taylor seems to suffer from medical problems that were mostly due to this memorable, outstanding war that will remain in our memories forever.

'fan-baller
 

boxxer_6

Juniors
Messages
1
First, let everyone know that Richard Steele might as well been counting by 2's as in 2,4, 6, 8, 10. Because, he was counting so fast. He was making sure JC Chavez get the win. Two seconds Chavez would've made it across the ring.
 
C

CanadianSteve

Guest
Welcome Boxxer 6. Hope you check out our other old boxing threads. They were a highlight of this once thriving, now dormant forum.
 

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