Chavez Stops Taylor in the Eighth Round : Boxing: He scores a technical knockout at 1:41 to retain his WBC super-lightweight title.

Once again, Meldrick Taylor’s heart and handspeed brought out the best in Julio Cesar Chavez.

Once again, Taylor fought Chavez toe to toe, but, four years after their first, controversial bout, once again Taylor ended the fight with the referee’s arms around him and Chavez’s arms raised high in the air.

After Chavez piled up the punishment in the middle rounds, a sharp left uppercut in the eighth round caught Taylor square on the chin, sending him backward across the ring and then flat on his back Saturday night before 15,222 at the MGM Grand Garden.

Taylor got up quickly but was obviously still groggy when Chavez leaped to finish him off. Five or six heavy shots later, with Taylor’s arms dangling at his side, referee Mills Lane stepped between the two and ended the fight at 1:41 of the eighth.

After the fight, Chavez, who retained his World Boxing Council junior-welterweight title, said the victory was an answer to all the doubts that had built up about him after dubious decisions in fights with Pernell Whitaker and Frankie Randall and a loss to Randall.

His promoter, Don King, announced that Randall, who won the World Boxing Assn. junior-welterweight title earlier in the evening, will fight Whitaker, the WBC welterweight champion, at an undetermined date.

The winner, King said, will fight Chavez (91-1-1, 78 knockouts).

“For me, this is my revenge,” Chavez said through an interpreter. “For everyone who said that I was done and that Don King would fall, this is our revenge. I knew that I would win this fight, I was so dedicated. Now, I want Randall.”

Four years ago, Taylor controlled Chavez through 11 1/2 rounds but was knocked down by a right to the chin in the last 15 seconds. Referee Richard Steele halted the bout with only two seconds remaining.

This time, Taylor (32-4-1) did not disagree with the stoppage, although two of the three judges scored the fight even through the sixth despite two points deducted from Taylor for low blows.

Early, Taylor duplicated his first-fight performance with quick hooks to Chavez’s face. But, as in the first fight, he was cut inside his mouth in the third or fourth. By the fourth, Chavez appeared to be rolling.

“I felt strong, obviously, until I got hurt,” Taylor said. “I thought I had him hurt a couple of times, but he’s a great champion and I take my hat off to him.”

The fight began tentatively, the two fighters’ circling each other, but by the middle of the first round, Taylor and Chavez began exchanging heavy shots.

Through the early rounds, Chavez appeared wary of Taylor’s handspeed and avoided launching an all-out frontal attack. Meanwhile, Taylor landed lefts and rights to Chavez’s face while moving side to side.

Taylor was penalized a point in the third for a low shot after several warnings by Lane, then Chavez moved in and scored with several hard blows to the face and body as the bell sounded.

By the fourth, both men were making mocking gestures at each other. Taylor instigated the pro-Chavez audience by falling to the canvas in the last minute after a lunging Chavez right hand, but it was ruled a slip.

Chavez scored with hooks in the fifth, but Taylor was not shaken. Then, with less than a minute remaining in the round, Taylor answered with several shots of his own.

A very low Taylor uppercut opened the sixth, which was Chavez’s most impressive round in more than a year. Taylor was penalized another point for the low blow.

Chavez appeared angered by the shot, coming straight at Taylor from then on, and Taylor hit the canvas in another heavy slip.

A minute after the initial flurry, a straight right to the chin rocked Taylor on his heels, sending blood pouring out of his mouth. In their first fight, Taylor had to go to the hospital after swallowing a pint of blood.

Twenty seconds later, another right wobbled Taylor again and the round ended with the crowd roaring in anticipation.

For the first time in a long time, Chavez did not disappoint them.