(POLL): Was Richard Steele wrong for stopping Chavez-Taylor?

[Optimistic]

Honestly, I've always thought the stoppage was wrong, seeing as there were only a few seconds left in the round.

But, he's the ref, and if he deemed the fight needed to be stopped, then it needed to be stopped.

Taylor won the fight, but Chavez won the war.

[Thread Stealer]

I've never felt that strongly either way about the stoppage as I can see both sides of the argument. Taylor never verbally responded (which makes me lean towards the side of the call being okay), the ref is not a time keeper. On the other side, Chavez was not in the neutral corner, as he was supposed to be, and Steele clearly looked back at Chavez and saw him.

The ones I'm more adamant about being wrong were Steele stopping Tyson-Ruddock 1 and K. Holmes-Taylor.

[Rocky Rode]

It was a good stoppage. Taylor got up by the 6 count and rested both his arms on the ropes. The the ref counts to 8 and asks Taylor is he's ok. Taylor continues to rest both his arms on the ropes and never responds to the ref. What is the ref supposed to do?

Doesn't the rule state you have to be standing up unassisted by the 10 count? Because Taylor was leaning on the ropes the entire time he was standing up.

[DiegoFuego]

It's not Steele's job to know how much time is left. I've always said that the ref's only responsibility is to stop it when a guy can't respond to him or is in serious trouble. Otherwise, what was the point of Chavez even going for the KO if they were just going to let it go on regardless?

That's the only time I'll ever take Chavez' side.

[Russian Crushin]

You said Steele saved Taylor's life, so you knew he would've died right?

LOL if you think he wouldn't have went blind.

One guy had some cuts

The other guy wasnt responding to the ref after taking a massive beating and being dropped hard

[elfag]

Dude. Taylor should have looked at Steele. Every fighter knows that. The fact that he looked at his second shows the state of disorientation he was in.

No Taylor wasnt hurt at all, he was fine. It was really loud so he couldnt hear Steele but when he saw him motioning to him and saying something (after being dropped) he assumed Steele was asking him what he thought of last nights chicago bulls game and decided not to respond because it seemed like a bad time to ask him that.

[Ringlife]

Two seconds left I would have not stopped it but it was a classic fight I am glad he did though.

[freedom213]

Nope good stoppage

Just because it was 5 secs left, even though I'm sure he didn't know cuz it was too loud to hear the 10 sec bell, doesn't mean he should let the fight continue

Thats BS He lets the fight go, fo rthe whole 5 seconds the bell rings the fights over Taylor wins and history is rewritten. I dont see how anyone in their right mind could say he should have stopped that. It wasnt like Taylor was out on is feet or was in the act of falling down, he got up and he was ready to continue. You know why that was stopped? Don King plain and simple, bought and paid for.

[William Blake]

I watched the Legendary Nights of this just a few nights ago...incredible how Taylor had his prime taken from him in one night. Steele should've been aware of the time and let the fight go on. Taylor deserved to win.

[BoxingGenius27]

One guy had some cuts

The other guy wasnt responding to the ref after taking a massive beating and being dropped hard

Lol @ some cuts. The guy had one huge cut on his eyelid. Not forehead, but eyelid. Add fuel to the fire, he had another cut over his eye. He still had 6 rounds to fight and you think that's better than letting a guy fight for 2 seconds? OK...