richard steele's decision in chavez-taylor 1

[The Noose]

lolz killed him in 5 seconds? give me a break here yo you mean to tell me he was going to do in 5 seconds what he couldn't do over the course of 12 rounds? I don't think so bro.. 100

It takes a split second to throw the punch that could kill a man after he has been taking punches for 12 rounds.

no he didn't.. continue what? the fight was over, there was nothing to call, he stopped it at a point where if he would have backed up Chavez wouldn't have had time to come and punch him again, he asked Taylor "do you wish to continue" and I wish I could ask him "continue what?", he KNEW 100% that there were less than 10 seconds in the fight, he knew enough of those 10 seconds passed by enough so that any second the bell would go off.. that prick wanted to pass it off like a good stoppage and it wasn't, you know what was a good stoppage? Mayweather-Gatti, that was a good clear stoppage and even Taylor-Pavlik granted that taylor made no attempt to stand up, maybe because he was just slumped for a second and the referee just crowded him but you can make the argument for Smoger there but Taylor-Chavez? dogz hell no..

Taylor wasn't out of it infact he was winning pretty clearly if you ask me, they were BOTH all ****ed up and Taylor was getting the best of it, if it were really do to accumilation and he was truly worried about Taylor then why didn't he stop it earlier within a Chavez flurry? why did he wait to the last 10 seconds to suddenly "care" for the fighter's health? why couldn't he "save him" from the accumilation earlier? bottomline it's a bull**** excuse to cover up what we will never know, something deeper than the surface I don't care what he says, I plain and simple don't believe him, he should have lost his license after that call, with him knowing that there were only seconds left on the clock and he would recieve NO MORE punches he should have just stood him up, backed up and let the round finish, I GUARANTEE you Taylor wouldn't have gotten hit again if Steele just backed up and let him be, I can't say let him continue because what was he continuing? the fight was over so what was he going to endure, he already finished the fight..

instead of helping him what he made him do was go threw a war in which he won in vain, he crumbled up and threw away his hard effort and tried to cover his own piece of **** ass talking that referee **** knowing damn well he was wrong, that ******* is probably still spending the money he was paid for that ****, I don't doubt people like Don King, Judges and Referees were crooked back then and I don't doubt this slime got a pay day for that. if he really "cared" for Taylor he wouldn't have snatched the biggest accomplishment of his life away from him, he wouldn't have waited until all but 2 seconds out of 12 rounds to stop this man, he didn't give 2 ****s about Taylor.. clearly, how can I say I care about you and I let you fight a war, a war that we all know you won, then I come in all the way at the end of the war right when it's about to end and then stop you and call you the loser, that ain't care yo you know what that ain't? it ain't fair.. 100

The refs job is to stop the fight if a fighter isnt fit to continue.
In the mayhem of the final round thats all he was focused on. He wasnt considering anything other than Taylors health.

And what money was he paid by King? Thats also bull**** that u cannot backup.
Steele did a great job in a sport where fighters get killed.

Te question is, if it were the 11th round, would Taylor be fit to continue?? No. So why should the refferee have to think about what round it is, who is winning, whether it was a war or not, thats all bull****.

[The Noose]

it's not that yo you missing my whole point, Taylor got up, Taylor looked over to his trainer and completely showed signs of being aware,

he was on his feet and responding, in the middle of a war you can't expect him to be like "yes, Mr. Steele I am perfectly fine to continue combating", he was ready to get his win, he looked over to his trainer and Steele just stopped it, he didn't give him a good enough chance knowing the fight was nearly over,

Chavez wasn't gonna land another punch and he knew that, if he would have kept talking a little bit the bell would have rung in the middle of his words that how finished that fight was.. why did he stop it?

A fighter should respond to the ref. Taylor didnt. The ref doesnt know where the fighter is looking. Or what he is looking at. Steele counted to 9, looked at a busted up Taylor, asked if he was alrite, and Taylor gazed right passed him.

And its ridiculous to suggest the ref should have talked to Taylor a little longer....thats called corrupt. That makes no ****in sense at all.

[Wiley Hyena]

A fighter should respond to the ref. Taylor didnt. The ref doesnt know where the fighter is looking. Or what he is looking at. Steele counted to 9, looked at a busted up Taylor, asked if he was alrite, and Taylor gazed right passed him.

And its ridiculous to suggest the ref should have talked to Taylor a little longer....thats called corrupt. That makes no ****in sense at all.

All your points are good ones. But, it's not just us idiots who thought that stoppage was crap. Larry Merchant and the gang at HBO pretty much saw it that way too.

[-Antonio-]

It was impossible for Chavez to run across the ring and land another punch in the two-three seconds he had left. Steele probably did the right thing, but the timing of it all is just upsetting every time I see it. Taylor deserved that win. He was responding fine, Lou Duva is just a ****ing idiot and destracted him.

[-Antonio-]

Why doesn't anyone ever talk about the rematch. Okay it was a controversial fight. But what about the rematch? At least Chavez gave him one.

Five years later when Taylor was a shell of his former self. Thats like a spit in the face.

[-Antonio-]

This fight was seriously closer than most made it out to be now or at the time. Taylor was busier but he was getting tagged by flush brutal shots all night, he was actually looking in rough shape at the end of the 11th. Taylor was also clinging tightly to the ropes for support as in he wasn't really up on his own two feet.

Closer than Legendary Nights made it seem, but not necessarily close enough to give Chavez the nod imo. I had it something 8-4 when I saw it.

[pelonxsoldier28]

Look at Taylor today and tell me that Steel made a bad decision. I respect when Steele said "im not a time keeper, i felt he was in trouble, so i did my job to ensure his safety"

i agree................

[Ace Rockolla]

The knee-jerk reaction is to say that, yeah, Steele made a terrible decision in robbing Taylor of the victory, and that's the way I felt when I first watched the fight (not live).

The real question, though, is whether or not it is the referee's responsibility to know how much time is remaining in the round. As far as I'm aware, that's not part of the ref's responsibility and so Steele had no obligation to factor that into his call. I'm not saying Steele made the right call. I'm just saying there are some mitigating factors at play. If you want to blame someone, blame Duva for the advice he gave heading into that final round and for distracting Taylor as Steele asked if he was okay after the 8 count.

Bad call? Maybe. If Steele had known there were 2 seconds left in the round I'm confident he would have let Meldrick continue, but he didn't know, and he didn't want Taylor to take any more punishment. Even the most ardent Taylor supporters (including myself) would have to admit that even one more Chavez blow could have had serious long term consequences, and Steele wasn't going to let that happen.

[Sweet Pea 50]

I can't believe some of you actually have the balls to have watched this fight, and wouldn't have gave Taylor the win. Really, this **** disgusts me.
You actually believe that JCC would have won on the score cards?
No.
"He was a shell of his former self"
Yeah, but he would have been a CHAMPION.
He couldn't have stood up for two more seconds?
I can't believe this...
Ya'll are ****ed upped..
I've said before, and I'll say it again...
If I see this ref again, anybody that looks like him on the street...
I'm going to get violent.
And that isn't e-thugging.

[Fox McCloud]

Listen... Steele gave Taylor every chance in the ****ing world to win this match. He asked him twice if he was okay. He didn't answer.

And please remember that... Harold Lederman, if you will?



"You cannot be saved by the bell, in ANY round, INCLUDING, the 12th and final round! JIM!"