Should Richard Steel have stopped the Taylor-Chavez(1990) when he did?VOTE

I think he shouldn't have stopped it because there were like 2 seconds of the round left and by the time chavez reached taylor the bell would have sounded and taylor would be a happy man :)

But it can be argued that what if chavez hit him with some heavy shots in them last few seconds and did more damage to his brain than he already had, what state would taylor be in now?

Steele could see a few things...

1. Lou Duva was on the apron and distracted Taylor....Causing a delay in answering the questions if he was OK

2. Steele failed to do his job by not paying attention to the lights in the corner and the fact they were flashing.../showing less then 10 seconds of the bout

If you arguement is that he was taking too much punishment, thats lame because he already had the damage done by that time that one right didnt ruin Taylor....

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Originally Posted by No Contest

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Originally Posted by The Rookie Fan

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Originally Posted by BoomBoom

The referee is not the timekeeper. It was an unfortunate stoppage, but not a bad one.

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This is the hart of the argument right there. Time is not the issue if we are going to judge Richard Steel's call. He said it himself, it is not his job to look at the clock. If you think it was a bad call because you felt Taylor could continue fighting (and I mean fighting not just stand without assistance) than I have no problem with that, though I can't see how you could be in a better possition to make that judgement than Steel was.

However, if you think it was a bad call bassed only on the fact that there were 2 secconds left than IMO your argument is irrelavent to the discussion. You can't say Steel made a bad call and base it on something that Steel had no control, knowledge or responsability over.

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Your telling me Richard Steele who has ref'd hundreds of fights doesnt have the feel for how long a round is??? In that clip he even says Chavez started to come on in the last 25 seconds. If he didnt know that round was almost over he shouldnt be refereeing a championship fight!

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He probably does, but thats irrelevant. That shouldnt be part of the the process of deciding whether or not to stop a fight. The ref has to make split second decisions and the only thing on his mind was the welfare of the fighter, not the verdict of the fight. I understand why some people dont agree with how the fight ended up, but you can blame Steele, you can blame Duva, and you can blame Taylor too because they all did things that may have changed the oucome of the fight. Again, It was just an unfortunate ending to a fight.

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Originally Posted by Bilbo

It was a completely bullshit stoppage imo.

What's so ironic about it though is that some people attempt to justify it on humane grounds and say it's the referee's job to protect a fighter from harm, but it was prescisely this bullshit stoppage that ruined Meldrick Taylor, led to himm fighting on too long and becoming a cruel victim of the sport sufferinf from brain damage in later life.

Chances are if Taylor would have won that fight he would have been satisfied and not continued on as long as he did.

Steele ruined Taylor.

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To say that this 1 fight ruined Taylors life is a bit silly.He would of ended up like he has because some fighters dont know when to quit.

Example-Hollyfield,Ali to name 2.Both have had amazing wins but both fought past there prime by a long way.

In hindsight,more damage was done to Taylor by Steele stopping the fight than if he had not stopped the fight.He seemed to fall apart mentally. I'm not sure.2 seconds left,the biggest fight of his life.On the other hand he didn't answer the ref's questions. It's a tough one imo.I probably would have let it go on.