Brian Vera Vs. Andy Lee

[Rane-Ex54]

Good Stoppage at bad time, still thou, Lee was getting his ass handed to him. I agree w/ the ref stepping in.

[Njord777]

No. It wasn't a good stoppage. You can tell when a fighter starts getting smacked around the ring like Lee was that the referee is looking for an excuse to stop it. Vera landed a hard punch but, right as the referee stepped in, Lee was connecting with his own hard shot. You stop a fight when a fighter is no longer able to defend themselves. If Andy Lee was throwing a punch that goes out the window. Ten seconds earlier; good stoppage. Ten seconds later; probably a good stoppage. But in ten seconds a **** of a lot can happen- Lee could score a miracle K.O. or even get viciously knocked out. Looking out for a fighter is one thing; stopping it at a bad time is another. Sure, I think it would have been stopped eventually but at the time of the stoppage Lee was throwing a punch- so it was a bad stoppage. Saying the fight needed to be stopped is one thing; stopping it while the fighter is fighting back is another. Bad stoppage.

[The Hammer]

The round was almost over, Lee threw a power punch before the stoppage, however he had no legs left and was getting pummeled by Vera, he was going down anyway so the ref should of waited a lil' bit longer.

Exactly. Lee could have survived the round, and would have completely recovered by the beginning of the next round. If he then fought more cautiously, he would have easily won the rest of the fight.

[Steak]

it was a badly timed stoppage, but eventually either the ref would have stopped it or Manny would have stopped the fight, Manny isnt an idiot even though he REALLY needs to start teaching his guys how to fight on the inside and be able to adapt rather than fight in that same old style...Manny wasnt complaining about the stoppage, which leads me to beleive he would have called the fight off if Lee kept taking the kind of punishment that he was taking throughout the rest of the round

[frankpaganini]

No. It wasn't a good stoppage. You can tell when a fighter starts getting smacked around the ring like Lee was that the referee is looking for an excuse to stop it. Vera landed a hard punch but, right as the referee stepped in, Lee was connecting with his own hard shot. You stop a fight when a fighter is no longer able to defend themselves. If Andy Lee was throwing a punch that goes out the window. Ten seconds earlier; good stoppage. Ten seconds later; probably a good stoppage. But in ten seconds a **** of a lot can happen- Lee could score a miracle K.O. or even get viciously knocked out. Looking out for a fighter is one thing; stopping it at a bad time is another. Sure, I think it would have been stopped eventually but at the time of the stoppage Lee was throwing a punch- so it was a bad stoppage. Saying the fight needed to be stopped is one thing; stopping it while the fighter is fighting back is another. Bad stoppage.

I agree 110%.

Lee was losing and in danger of getting knocked out but he was still able to defend himself. His legs were going but werent all the way gone...

he was able to defend himself still...instead of covering up (like it would be a natural instinct to do if you are in serious danger) lee punched back...showing he was still okay.

i think it should have kept going...

when a fighter is standing like a noodle (whobbling around on shakey legs appearing to be apparently knocked out) then you stop it...

when a fighter gets punched/punched at without returning punches...then you stop it...

when a fighter goes into a shell (with his hands up to protect him) and does nothing back for a certain amount of time...you stop it...

when a fighter returns a punch...you DONT stop it...

when a figher doesnt appear to be knockout out on his feet...you DONT stop it.

plain and simple...

[The Hammer]

Looks like most people agree it was an early stoppage, according to the poll.

[Hitman932]

“He drew me into a fight,’’ Lee (12-1) admitted before leaving for a local hospital for stitches and a CAT scan. “It was my own fault. I didn’t listen to (trainer) Emanuel (Steward).

“He’s a tough guy. He was strong. I thought I could continue but it’s the referee’s decision. He hit me too much.’’

Vera did that in large part because Lee allowed it to happen. He refused to use his jab to keep Vera at a distance and despite winning four of the first five rounds on all three judges cards he slowly began to lose control of the night because he lost control of himself.

“He wanted to fight him too much,’’ a disappointed Steward said. “He stayed on the inside too much, trying to fight him and he got tagged. It happens. It happened to Billy Conn, too. We’re already trying to set up a rematch in July. Andy just made a mistake. He let Vera turn it into a brawl.’’

[Scott9945]

It was a good stoppage at a bad time. You could see that Lee was going to get stopped one way or another, however, I would have liked too see a little bit more before the stoppage.

However, with the punishment he took in that round, I cant really argue with it.

Perfectly stated. If you care about Andy Lee you should be happy he was bailed out from a bad beating.

[Jim Jeffries]

Perfectly stated. If you care about Andy Lee you should be happy he was bailed out from a bad beating.

It was a weird time to stop it the instant after Lee caught him with a great shot, but I kinda agree. I wish Juan Diaz would have stopped his fight after about the 6th round and saved himself a lot of punishment. The way this fight was going the same thing was probably going to happen.

[The Hammer]

This fight definitely should not have been stopped. The round was almost over.

Three of the last four punches thrown were by Lee - he threw a nice two punch combo, then was hit, then countered, then the referee stopped it. Lee actually seemed to have recovered from earlier punches during the seconds before the ref stepped in.

Vera resorted to a lot of dirty tactics throughout the fight, like holding Lee's head while hitting, and headbutting. Lee was cut by a headbutt, then Vera opened it up later with punches and more headbutts.