Some of The Worst Stoppages In Boxing History?

[JimRaynor]

I'd have to say Tyson vs Ruddock I, was pretty terrible. Steele had other fights too where he prematurely stopped fights, might've been paid of by King.

[OCPancho]

Steele was crooked.
Don King and Steve Wynn of the Mirage had a few fight contract.
He knew who to favor in fights .
Stopping the JCC-Taylor fight when the corner red lights went one when he started counting and not asking Taylor to come to him before waiving it off was bullkaka.
Had it been JCC on the floor, he surely would have not stopped it .

The worst stoppage I ever saw was in John Meekins fight ( who later lost to Meldrick Taylor for the title ). John was hitting the other guy and the ref stops the fight . The other guy throws a left hook and KNOCKS OUT Meekins .
Meekins was out and won on TKO. How freaking strange is that ?

[Anthony342]

Why is this in the lounge and not the Boxing History section?

Edit: I see this thread in both the history and lounge sections now. Weird.

[OCPancho]

Griffith-Paret 2

[Dyl-G]

Any fight with Jack Reiss

[Dempsey-Louis]

Stopping the JCC-Taylor fight when the corner red lights went one when he started counting and not asking Taylor to come to him before waiving it off was bullkaka

I have to challenge you on this statement. -- I realize this is a popular sentiment but IMO people don't think through what they are suggesting.

But before I start let me say, if you are saying that Steele was bought off and crooked and saw an opportunity to please King, and that Taylor was ready to continue, that argument I am not challenging.

But the 'ring lights' argument I am challenging.

A ref is suppose to stop a fight when he believes a fighter is in danger of being hurt, i.e. can't defend himself. That standard should not be qualified by:

. . . whether the fighter is winning or losing the fight.

. . . how much time is left.

To suggest that the ref should add these circumstances to his decision is to . . .

. . . first suggest that the referee should have an opinion as to is winning the fight,

. . . second that he should seek to alter the outcome of the fight by basing his stoppage on whether the fighter is winning or losing the fight.

We don't want a ref making those decisions! Those will quickly become bias decisions.

Richard Steele stopped the fight with only two seconds left in the round (in the fight) and it resulted in a great injustice, but you have to ask yourself, would you be complaining if Taylor had been losing the fight?

I am concluding that you believe Steele should have ignored Taylor's condition and waited out the two seconds because Taylor was winning. With that I ask . . . do you have a particular amount 'time left' that Steel should have stopped the fight? What if there had been six seconds left? What about ten?

Is your two second limit based on the fact that Chavez couldn't get across the ring in two seconds, therefore Taylor was safe from injury?

Because if it is, then you are saying that Steele should have ignored the fact that Taylor was a defeated fighter, ignored what he saw in front of him (for only two seconds) and protected a defeated fighter from defeat; you are arguing he should have cheated on Taylor's behalf.

A ref can't make a stoppage decision based on how much time is left or on who is winning at the time. To do that would eventually result in prejudicial refs.

[Ben Bolt]

What if there had been six seconds left? What about ten?

That’s one argument I also have been using to justify Steele’s decision. But if he did right or wrong will always split boxing fans.

As of fighters being counted out on their feet, they usually claim they weren’t badly hurt and could have continue.

An exception I liked was Fernando Montiel’s answer to the question “Was it a good stoppage?” after his two-round loss to Nonito Donaire in 2011:
"Yes, it was very good. God knows what would have happened if I had been hit with another blow or where I would be right now."

[OCPancho]

I have to challenge you on this statement. -- I realize this is a popular sentiment but IMO people don't think through what they are suggesting.

But before I start let me say, if you are saying that Steele was bought off and crooked and saw an opportunity to please King, and that Taylor was ready to continue, that argument I am not challenging.

But the 'ring lights' argument I am challenging.

A ref is suppose to stop a fight when he believes a fighter is in danger of being hurt, i.e. can't defend himself. That standard should not be qualified by:

. . . whether the fighter is winning or losing the fight.

. . . how much time is left.

To suggest that the ref should add these circumstances to his decision is to . . .

. . . first suggest that the referee should have an opinion as to is winning the fight,

. . . second that he should seek to alter the outcome of the fight by basing his stoppage on whether the fighter is winning or losing the fight.

We don't want a ref making those decisions! Those will quickly become bias decisions.

Richard Steele stopped the fight with only two seconds left in the round (in the fight) and it resulted in a great injustice, but you have to ask yourself, would you be complaining if Taylor had been losing the fight?

I am concluding that you believe Steele should have ignored Taylor's condition and waited out the two seconds because Taylor was winning. With that I ask . . . do you have a particular amount 'time left' that Steel should have stopped the fight? What if there had been six seconds left? What about ten?

Is your two second limit based on the fact that Chavez couldn't get across the ring in two seconds, therefore Taylor was safe from injury?

Because if it is, then you are saying that Steele should have ignored the fact that Taylor was a defeated fighter, ignored what he saw in front of him (for only two seconds) and protected a defeated fighter from defeat; you are arguing he should have cheated on Taylor's behalf.

A ref can't make a stoppage decision based on how much time is left or on who is winning at the time. To do that would eventually result in prejudicial refs.

Then what are red lights for ????
I remember watching Boxing at the Olympic in LA.
They had a clock up where the ref can look how much time there is left . The refs used to peak at the clock and the tv announcer Jim Healey used to mention it.
Fast forward a decade or two, Las Vegas started using the red corner lights. Sure, the time remaining matters.
No matter who he thinks is winning.
And on top of that, Steele did not ask Taylor to come to him. Usually, a hand signal or gesture is done for that b/c it's so noisy in there, the boxer might not even know what the ref is saying .

[DuckAdonis]

Kovalev-Ward 2....needs no explaining

[clemenza]

George Chuvalo vs Jerry Quarry, You tube it folks, Quarry is dominating the fight, gets knocked down gets up at at like 3, takes a knee until like 8-9 and then the referee says he didn’t beat the Ten count!!!
Very shady stoppage