Would you have stopped Dawson Stevenson?

[Rome-By-Ko]

At first I thought the ref should have let him continue, although slightly dazed he seemed to be steady and I hate when refs dont give fighters a chance to prove themselves. Think of all the awesome fights we've had in the past that would have never been if the ref stopped a fight every time a fighter got knocked down. But - during the post fight interview when Chad didn't contest the stoppage and said "he caught me with a good shot, he was better then me tonight", I knew he must have been pretty hurt at the time of stoppage. Chad doesn't hold back when he thinks he's been wronged and he hardly put up a peep. The tough part of this sport is you just really never know how truly the fighter is hurt, and the fighters job is to convince the ref he's not hurt.

Although of course they want to err on the side for the boxers safety, I still think refs these days are being too overly protective. This is a dangerous sport after all (a sport in which the name of the game IS to hurt each other), and they work too hard to have a ref jump in and wave off the fight just because the opponents is going full throttle throwing windmill punches just to get the ref to stop it. I've seen far too many fights where only 1 or 2 of those punches even land and they weren't even clean. I don't know man, tough call. Again, I just cant help thinking of all the great fights we've had in the past that would have never happened in this day and age.

Great great post..

[Da Machine]

I think when it's that early in the fight, you let the guy continue if he beats the count, and can at least stand without falling into the ropes by count 10. You just have to be prepared to jump in quickly.

[Ray Corso]

He was finished! Ray.

[Mike Haynes]

Every punch is different every KD is different every reaction is different.....

The only thing I would do is give the full 8 count....then look for how they respond to questions. For example - I REALLY thought Tony Weeks could have stopped Chico in Corrales v Castillo I....but Chico was so clear with his answers he HAD to let him fight....then he stops it when Castillo was standing but 3 punches from landing face first on the canvas...and Castillo didn't complain at that point.

A lot of times a fighter needs to be saved from himself but I guess Chad didn't respond clear enough and aggressive enough to continue...plus he didn't complain. Good stoppage.