By James Blears
Famous former referee Richard Steele, who'll forever be remembered for saving Meldrick Taylor from the fists of Julio Cesar Chavez, just two seconds shy of the final bell in the tweflth round in 1990, has no regrets over stopping the contest.
Richard was at hand at the unveiling ceremony of the Julio Cesar Chavez statue in Culican, Sinaloa.
Steele said: "Julio Cesar Chavez had a very strong will and he wouldn't allow anyone to change his mind. He wanted to win at all times and he wanted to give the fans their money's worth and he always did."
Richard winces and patiently smiles when asked for the umpteenth time about his decision following Julio's devastating twelfth round knockdown of Meldrick, explaining:
"Meldrick was in very bad condition and the doctors testified that he was just hanging on to life. It was not worth a man's life [to let the fight continue]. It's always better for him to come back another day."
About Julio in the ring, Richard said: "Julio always fought with a very clean style. He never tried anything dirty. He never tried to do anything wrong. He always wanted to be peoples' champion."
