Quote Originally Posted by RozzySean View Post
Spicoli and Gorilla are so off on this. Bad stoppage. If this ref was working Pavlik/Taylor 1, he would it would have been TKO 2 for Taylor. Lee was hurt, but he was still fighting back. He had staggered Vera in the previous round. Maybe Vera KO's him later that round, but Vera should have been given the opportunity to end it properly and Lee should have been given the opportunity to come back. I'm no huge Andy Lee fan, but if you think this was a good stoppage, you are just too wrapped up in the moment supporting an underdog. I love an upset as much as anybody, but I want to see it called correct. Had Vera won legit, I would be giving him all props, but the stoppage was crap, and if Vera gets back in the ring with Lee, he's going to get his ass handed to him.

Even if Lee could have continued with any chance of turning things around(certainly didn't look that way), it's not worth comparing this stoppage to a CHAMPIONSHIP fight. The ref SHOULD generally allow fighters to continue when hurt, and give them a little more benefit of the doubt when it's two elite fighters competiting for a lineal championship. This was a young inexperienced prospects TV debut against an extremely limited fighter. There's no reason that Lee should have had to endure more punishment on the off chance that he may pull a hail mary out of nowhere and turn things around. What is the point, whether the fight was stopped then, a couple rounds later, or even if Lee had managed to shake off the cobwebs and win a decision, he was still exposed, the damage was already done, and he had little to gain in trying to fight on. I think the ref made an excellent call in stopping it there. Not because Lee couldn't have continued, but because he didn't want to, and he was taking a LOT of punishment. If that fight had been let continue Lee could have got very hurt. You don't sound like much of a fan of his if that's what you wanted to see.