I think it was horrible to do that, Taylor was on his way to a victory, he got up, he wouldnt have even taken another punch because there was only 2 seconds. It would have been Steele giving them distance and then by the time he said fight, the bell would have rung.(rang?)
It sounds as if decisions should be made depending on how much time is left but the rules were not made depending on how much time was left per round. This argument is based on how much time was left instead of the fact that Meldrick Taylor simply couldn't continue, which is, a TKO.

And that man was the one standing 5" from him and looking at him right in the eye. No one here can say he had a better view of Taylor than Steel did.
I remember how Steele would even follow his eyes and look deep into them and ask "Are you ok?.......ARE YOU OK?!?!"

You dont have to say anything man are you shitting me? You got a big mouthpiece and are supposed to talk to talk to the ref in the 12th round of a hard fight...lol
I am yet to see a boxer take out his mouthpiece to say "Yeah!...I am fine!...Sure!" or whatever boxers answer when they are asked. We can all hear it even if we are not sitting on ringside. This reminds me of a funny answer from a boxer. It was Tyson vs Ribalta. Ribalta was floored and after the 8 count referee asks "Are you ok?" and he answered "HELL YEAH!" something the commentators even laughed at . The point is, boxers don't need to take out the mouth piece, fix their hair, fix their trunks, etc. Just to answer loud and clear that they are fine. Watch any fight and you can hear boxers go "Yes!...I am fine..." or whatever. Taylor failed to answer.

All you have to do is nod and put your hands up or walk forward
Even so, Taylor was way far from being able to walk forward. Look at his face, look at his reaction when the referee asks, etc. If the referee notices that the fighter can't take it anymore the fight will be stopped.

He did...Here's an example of when you should stop it....Holyfield Bowe 3 Cortez let Holyfield continue after taking about 3-4 second to respond to come forward. He then promptly got hammered back to the floor.
Exactly, Holyfield didn't even answer and got hammered back. Bad judgement from him. Steel noticed the same thing and made the right choice of not letting him continue regardless of how much time was left.

Taylor was well past his prime in the rematch.
How about Chavez?

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

I wonder what would have happened if Chavez was the one being floored .

Interesting how so many boxing fans hate Chavez.