The final moments of Kirkland Tapia..

[mrlopez]

I want canelo-kirkland badly.... wish we could have seen that fight. I'm confident canelo would KO that pos.

i'd love to see that fight too, but i want james to beat the freckles off ginger

[tank17211]

I hate to say this as a fan of Kirkland. I have seen people place a lot of blame on the corner of Tapia as well as Smoger. The thing is each time I see the last shot I cant help but feel Kirkland threw that last shot well aware that the fight was over. Smoger jumped in and made contact with him and he may have been is beast mode but there was a a bit of a delay before he threw that last punch. I think part of the reason Tapia was so hurt by the punch was because like Kirkland he knew the fight was over and relaxed making him more vulnerable to be hurt by that vicious shot. I don't expect this to be a popular observation but but as a fan of Kirkland I would be lying to myself if I pretend I didn't see what I saw. I just wonder if anyone else has a similar opinion.

I was pretty disturbed by those last two shots. I don't know whether Kirkland did it intentionally or not maybe he was just in beast mode but I was disturbed by the amount of punches Tapia corner was letting him take. I literally threw my hands up the last two punches kirkland landed. I love seeing a kayo but you do not want to see guys permanently hurt.

[SUBZER0ED]

I hate to say this as a fan of Kirkland. I have seen people place a lot of blame on the corner of Tapia as well as Smoger. The thing is each time I see the last shot I cant help but feel Kirkland threw that last shot well aware that the fight was over. Smoger jumped in and made contact with him and he may have been is beast mode but there was a a bit of a delay before he threw that last punch. I think part of the reason Tapia was so hurt by the punch was because like Kirkland he knew the fight was over and relaxed making him more vulnerable to be hurt by that vicious shot. I don't expect this to be a popular observation but but as a fan of Kirkland I would be lying to myself if I pretend I didn't see what I saw. I just wonder if anyone else has a similar opinion.

Yeah, Kirkland meant to throw that last punch and hurt Tapia. Smoger was between the fighters enough for Kirkland to realize the fight was over. AND, if you look at the footage in slow mo, you can clearly see Kirkland mouth a word that begins with a "b" after landing that last shot. Looks like he called Tapia a beatch to me, which is indicative of his bad intentions.

[Bushidō]

No one is to blame except Tapia's corner. What the hell are you paying your corner for if they aren't going to save you and tell you the truth. We can't say we love smoger cause he lets guys fight back and get back into fights then turn around and say he was wrong for letting Tapia take so much punishment.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

When you are in a boxing match, it's the job of the referee FIRST AND FOREMOST to protect the fighter. He/she is in the ring and is watching the action first hand and can determine whether or not a fighter has had enough.

I don't blame Smoger because of the Dr's advice in the fight. Tapia was checked twice, his pupils dilated and he seemed fine. Most of the shots that Kirkland was landing weren't really hard, most of them...

Now towards the end, when Tapia wasn't fighting back, Smoger did the right thing in stepping in. If you look at the replay closely, Kirkland not only hits him when he knows Tapia is tied up, but calls him a b1tch (read his lips) after he hits him.

Kirkland is a lowlife, I have seen brutal sparring footage of him against Brian Vera where he's teeing off on Vera, as Vera is already out of his feet and he's trying to literally kill him. While Ann Wolfe and the rest of his team are cheering him on.

There was no need for Kirkland to throw that last shot, no ***in way. It was on purpose and it was malicious.

[Porter's Dad]

[Ray*]

Smogers is an experience referee, he should be grabbing the attacker to indicate that he is stopping the fight.