Was Chavez-Taylor A Good Call?

[moy22487]

can you continue, can you continue?
no answer and looks away,
this means knocked out.

but he did ask fast and didnt do the walk to me like refs do. this fight might be the reason why every ref does the walk to me thing now.

[kayjay]

Completely wrong. A referee is not obligated, and actually should not, consider who he thinks may be ahead on the cards when he's determining if a fighter can continue.

I can't believe anyone doubts this. People are actually claiming the ref should take the scorecards (which he hasn't seen anyway) into account

[kayjay]

1. Duva is an ******* and a liar. I can't believe he doesn't take responsibility for what he said between rounds.

2. Taylor should have been stopped when he fell down earlier in the round. He knocked himself out with his own missed punch. He was simply beaten from three hundred hard shots that Chavez landed, not to mention exhausted from having thrown over a thousand.

3. Chavez deserved the win for ultimately taking the life out of his opponent.

4. Taylor showed incredible heart though.

[Me La Pelan]

can you continue, can you continue?
no answer and looks away,
this means knocked out.

but he did ask fast and didnt do the walk to me like refs do. this fight might be the reason why every ref does the walk to me thing now.

I think you are right! Ever since that fight I've noticed the walk to me thing too. The sad thing was Taylor was so young and in extreme physical condition that he probably could have gotten up from anything and not even know his body was that damaged. I have always felt sorrow for Taylor because of the effects that this fight put on him mentally. Even at the end of his career he was just sad to listen to, I'm surprised he didn't pass away... I mean I've seen fight's where young guys take a beating and don't make it. I'm not trying to be disrespectfull. Actually I admire Taylor a lot, that boy had HEART. But it was exremely sad to see how his life turned out.

[oldgringo]

You folks making these statements about Steele genuinely looking out for the fighters safety and all of this **** need to can it.

Good judgment tells you that a champion who rises to his feet in the fashion Meldrick did deserves a chance to finish the fight. Mother **** not verbally answering his call. If Mel were so badly hurt he wouldn't have gotten up. If he were so concussed and internally destroyed he would have laid the **** down. He got up and the brutal nature of the fight should have told Steele that the kid was ready, even if he was damaged, to see the final bell. Bad judgment on Steele's part.

Completely wrong. A referee is not obligated, and actually should not, consider who he thinks may be ahead on the cards when he's determining if a fighter can continue.

Correct.

I have no problem w/ the stoppage. Would it have been nice for Taylor to win the fight as he should have? Yes. But on the same token, imagine if Chavez manages to land 1 more big shot really quickly? Think of how ****ed up Taylor is today, what if another shot made it even worse?

Oh, what would have happened had Chavez had enough time to even TRY and get off another punch (which he didn't)? Was he gonna kill him? End his life right there with one shot? Unless Chavez turned into Ken and gave him a rotate D to R, Punch:



I think it's safe to say Mel was finishing on his feet.

[Me La Pelan]

You folks making these statements about Steele genuinely looking out for the fighters safety and all of this **** need to can it.

Good judgment tells you that a champion who rises to his feet in the fashion Meldrick did deserves a chance to finish the fight. Mother **** not verbally answering his call. If Mel were so badly hurt he wouldn't have gotten up. If he were so concussed and internally destroyed he would have laid the **** down. He got up and the brutal nature of the fight should have told Steele that the kid was ready, even if he was damaged, to see the final bell. Bad judgment on Steele's part.



Correct.



Oh, what would have happened had Chavez had enough time to even TRY and get off another punch (which he didn't)? Was he gonna kill him? End his life right there with one shot? Unless Chavez turned into Ken and gave him a rotate D to R, Punch:



I think it's safe to say Mel was finishing on his feet.

I don't know what manner he got up in, to be ok. I am not sure what to tell you... If you have the fight watch it again. ALL the replays show Taylor holding on to the ropes. He is in a nuetral corner and his left hand is holding the top rope and in another replay angle you see his right hand holding the third rope... now even after the fight ends and Duva is in the ring in richards face, you see he STILL hasn't let the ropes go. He actually started talking before he moved from the spot he got up in.

[Me La Pelan]

There was some debate about the Steele's stoppage of the fight in another thread. I thought I'd add a poll for people to vote in.

You should have put a clip of the ending in... that would have been GREAT!

[-EX-]

I think it was a bad call. Steele should have known the fight was about to end and that Meldrick basically had won.

I don't blame Steele for Meldrick's downfall though. Meldrick shouldn't have been allowed to keep fighting after they realized he had brain damage. And I guess you can blame Meldrick as well.

[Easy-E]

Everyone should watch this before voting in the poll.

[deliveryman]

If Taylor was "dead" and had "no clue where he even was", why did he immediately react when Steele waved the fight off?