Richard steele did great job chavez/taylor

[SBleeder]

I've already gone over this countless times here. And so has almost everyone else. Just because it is boxing history, it doesn't mean that you can't come up with fresh topics.

But for your benefit I'll repeat my point. You don't stop a fight when the fighter is standing up straight taking the 8 count and there is no time left for him to get hit. And the tired argument that the referee isn't the timekeeper is bullspit. The referee should be aware of every facet of a fight. For example if Sergio Martinez had been dropped three times in the ninth, his fight with Cotto certainly would have been stopped. But being that it was the first round the ref used good judgment not to cheat Sergio or the crowd out of a chance for him to fight back.

Fighters sometime throw and land punches after the bell, yes?

[Runs and hides]

[Anthony342]

Steele did a horrible job in that fight. But this topic is too stale to rehash yet again. It has been debated countless times in this forum.

BOOM this right here. Chavez never went to a neutral corner and it was also Steele's job to make sure of that. If that had happened, Chavez wouldn't have had time to get to Taylor in those 2 seconds when the fight continued. It was still Taylor's fault for letting himself get distracted by his corner and not responding to the ref. Still a bad stoppage though.

[BattlingNelson]

Hey Scott,What do you say about the fact that Steele asked him"Are you ok?"..and Taylor said NOTHING!..Taylor has no one to blame but himself.
Taylor was very experienced and knew damn well that when a ref asks
you something,you better damn well answer or HE WILL stop the fight.
...you know it,he knew it and everyone one else knows this too!

I think Duva has to take a lot of the heat for Taylor not responding to Steele. He flew up on the ring apron shouting like crazy. The groggy and exhausted Taylor acknowledged Duva and missed Steele.

I agree with you that Steele did the right thing. I also agree with Scott in the sense that this has been debated a multitude of times in here. Comparatively as much as Vitali-Lewis has been discussed in NSB.

And Toooooool. Please be a bit more respectfull when you post and make threads. This is not NSB.

[Scott9945]

Hey Scott,What do you say about the fact that Steele asked him"Are you ok?"..and Taylor said NOTHING!..Taylor has no one to blame but himself.
Taylor was very experienced and knew damn well that when a ref asks
you something,you better damn well answer or HE WILL stop the fight.
...you know it,he knew it and everyone one else knows this too!

Steele knew goddamned well that Taylor was being distracted by his corner. He also knew that there were seconds left in the fight. He should have known that Chavez was nowhere near the neutral corner as required by the rules.

Since you are basing this on Steele's supposed high standards, go and look at the first Barkley-Hearns fight. You'll see that after the first knockdown Hearns looked like a newborn colt with no legs under him. But Steele didn't ask him anything. You know why? Because Steele was all about protecting the house fighter. Which was Hearns and Chavez in these fights.

[Scott9945]

Fighters sometime throw and land punches after the bell, yes?

[Runs and hides]

Of course. But do you think a referee should stop a fight based what might happen after the bell? Usually a referee will watch for that, especially after the final bell.

[SBleeder]

Of course. But do you think a referee should stop a fight based what might happen after the bell? Usually a referee will watch for that, especially after the final bell.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, just playing devil's advocate. There's always a chance of getting tagged. If the bell-keeper failed to ring the bell on time, which has been known to happen even in big fights, Taylor could have gotten killed and people would call Richard Steele a murderer. It was a difficult spot for any referee and nobody is ever going to agree on whether it was a good stoppage.

[Anthony342]

Steele knew goddamned well that Taylor was being distracted by his corner. He also knew that there were seconds left in the fight. He should have known that Chavez was nowhere near the neutral corner as required by the rules.

Since you are basing this on Steele's supposed high standards, go and look at the first Barkley-Hearns fight. You'll see that after the first knockdown Hearns looked like a newborn colt with no legs under him. But Steele didn't ask him anything. You know why? Because Steele was all about protecting the house fighter. Which was Hearns and Chavez in these fights.

This too. Not only not going to a neutral corner on Chavez's part, but protecting the house fighters, especially a Don King fighter.

[toooooool]

This too. Not only not going to a neutral corner on Chavez's part, but protecting the house fighters, especially a Don King fighter.

Anthony and Scott got their heads up their asses...Yea it was some kind
of Don KING conspiracy to make Taylor loose...give me a break...Who was ahead
on the scorecards?..chances are some kinda rig would be done to the
SCORECARDS...not waiting for some poor bastard to get knocked down with
10 seconds to "Protect a Don King fighter"...

[Scott9945]

Anthony and Scott got their heads up their asses...Yea it was some kind
of Don KING conspiracy to make Taylor loose...give me a break...Who was ahead
on the scorecards?..chances are some kinda rig would be done to the
SCORECARDS...not waiting for some poor bastard to get knocked down with
10 seconds to "Protect a Don King fighter"...

Read more carefully fool. I didn't say protect a Don King fighter. I said protect the house fighter. So who headlined more PPV's, Chavez or Taylor? It really is a rhetorical question since Taylor is ZERO. No matter who the promoter is, the officials always know who brings the revenue. And I gave examples of Richard Steele of doing this. The judges scorecards are irrelevant since no decision was read.

[Mugwump]

For years I wanted to throttle Steele. I just couldn't understand why he wouldn't let Taylor finish the fight with so little time remaining.

That said, recently I've watched the fight again. I'm not sure whether I'm benefiting from a better viewing angle, HD or the wisdom of middle age but Taylor does appear to be taking A LOT of punishment. Unanswered punishment. The worst kind.

Do I now agree with Steele? No. But I do think by the letter of the law - which can leave no fighter unclear about the point when his actions (or lack thereof) put him at risk of the referee intervening to protect his health (which is more important than a dozen titles) - Taylor's rapidly diminishing ability to avoid - what even old time boxing fans must admit was a BRUTALLY HEAVY HANDED (by any measure) comeback by Chavez - whilst his attack shrivelled to the point where you wondered whether you were watching the same fighter - was leaving him increasingly vulnerable to being stopped.

But I'd ask: shouldn't YOUR ideal referee be prepared to stop a title fight, three seconds from the end if he thinks one more punch could seriously injure a fighter and impact his long term health?

Whether I agree with Steele or not I've got to say it was a gutsy call demanding adamantium balls. Whilst I'm certain he expected heavy criticism I don't think he even began to grasp how pernicious and damaging it would be to both boxing and his career.

I think it's important to point out - he didn't HAVE TO make that call. The "easy" option was always there and no one would have blamed him for allowing the fight to continue. It's far easier to blend into the majority of free-wheeling referees whose names swirl endlessly around big fights and come the event they allow anything and everything provided the pay cheques keep coming.

I guess what I'm saying is if it's a choice between referees like Richard Steele who are prepared to risk hurting their own reputations making tough (and occasionally wrong) calls which are in the interests of the two fighters under his protection and the guy who recently allowed Denis Lebedev to fight on against Jones several rounds after he had been hideously disfigured, mentally scarred and more than likely the victim of all kinds of internal damage, I'll take Steele (warts and all) any day.