I'll pick Chavez at any weight. No doubt Chavez had trouble with Meldrick Taylor's hand speed. If you judge a fighter on the quantity of his punches you're likely to go with a fighter like Taylor, if you go with Quality of the punch than Chavez and fighters like him are your guys. The proof as they say, is in the pudding, Taylor was never the same after the Chavez fight, that wouldn't have changed even if Richard Steele had let the fight continue. The truth is, while Taylor was busy scoring points, Chavez was busy kicking his butt. Steele did right stopping that fight. Throughout the fight, whether you agree that the fight should have been stopped or not, Chavez kept his cool, never got discouraged and never wavered from his goal, which was to hurt and stop Taylor.

Pacquiao on the other hand was beaten by Erik Morelas in the first of their three fights, and Morales was already winding down his great career, Pacquiao also recieved a draw and a split decision against Juan Manuel Marquez, and you can easily make a case that Marquez won both fights, but regardless, they were close. Pacquiao has been ducking Marquez ever since. There has to be a reason.

Beating Oscar De La Hoya at this point in De La Hoya's career doesn't really amount to much, neither does beating Hatton, a fine fighter to be sure but with limitations.

Chavez had a cast Iron chin and skull and did not get stopped until late in his career, suffering TKO's from both Oscar De la Hoya , twice, one on cuts, with Chavez unable to continue and the other in the second fight with Chavez unable to answer the bell for the ninth round. Pacquiao was KO'ed twice; in his 12th fight with Rustico Torrecampo, and in his 28th fight against against Medgoen Singsurat. He can be stopped.

I'm making this comparison not to degrade Pacquiao but because the question was asked, who would win between the two. These are my reasons but as in any fight, circumstances change and there are always the intangibles, still given what I know I'll pick Chavez by a late round KO.

A Manny Pacquiao vs. Julio Cesar Chavez fight would have left any boxing fan, purist or not, salivating for more. Imagine, a fight between these two icons, Pacquiao and Chavez, representing the Philippines and Mexico, respectively. For my money, I would have pitted the late-1980's to early 1990's version of J.C. Superstar versus the Pacman which demolished David Diaz as both were atop the pound-for-pound ratings. I don't know that the fight would have ended in a knockout, but it would have been thrilling as I envision Pacquiao to probably come out fast given Chavez's notoriety of being a fairly slower starter. Pacquiao's frenetic pace would have troubled Chavez early on. But Chavez was a defensive genius who would have weathered Pacquiao's onslaught and dissected him throughout the fight. My guess is that Chavez would have fought Pacquiao at close range, outside of the Pacman's aerial bombs (which, if they could find their mark would have put Chavez down), and would have gone to the body to try and wear him out. Because of Chavez's reputation of coming on strong at the end, as well his reknown excellent body punching (but also for the fact that I don't think Pacquiao would have left himself open for a knockout, though his defense is not as nearly as good as Chavez's), I would say Chavez would have won by a 116-112 decision.