Fights revisited.

[ViperSniper]

Watched this a couple of nights ago and really enjoyed the fight. Meldrick Taylor has got one of the fastest hands ever in boxing and was impressed with how well he fought and boxed, standing his ground and beating Chavez at his own game.

I had scored all rounds to Taylor, even the championship rounds when Chavez was closing the gap Taylor was still doing enough to take the close ones! Taylor fighting at a pretty high pace all night, not taking a break begun to show fatigue and absorbing more and more shots, looking more vulnerable despite the lead and work that had already been done. It seemed Taylor had punched himself out which lead to the infamous knockdown at the end of the fight!

Being a highly controversial fight, it has many different opinions on the fight. Many put blame in other directions from poor instructions leading into the 12th by Taylor's camp, Richard Steele not noticing the red light on the ring post to indicate the final 10 seconds of the round that was directly infront of him, Taylor getting distracted by a camp member on the ring apron during Steele's questioning Taylor to continue or Richard Steele himself for stopping it!?!


Considering the circumstances with seconds remaining and with a fighter being able to be saved by the final bell in effect, I think Richard Steele made the wrong call! Really feel for Taylor in this one!


So! Did Richard Steele make the correct call?

[SmartyBeardo]

Hell no.

[Maxy]

Nah, it's a massive shame how that fight ended. Deprived Taylor of an incredible victory at the time. Still, he was ruined because of that fight whether he'd finished and got the win he deserved or not.

[the ollie reed fan club]

No. Meldrick Taylor was finished for good after this fight, the subtle beating Chavez but on him was something terrible. However he deserved the win that night and nothing will ever convince me that Don King didn't have Richard Steele in his back pocket for that one.

[kidbazooka1]

Damn this topic has been beat to death.

OK Steels job is to watch the fighter not the clock. Meldrick was hurt big time and takeing a horrible beating. When Steele asked if he could continue Taylor didn't/couldn't respond therefore Steel made 100% the right call.

But ppl like to get all bitchy cuz of the two mins left but the ref shouldnt give a f*ck bout the time his job is the safety of the fighter. Nuff said.

End of discussion.

[Fitz]

You and Mexican's.

[the ollie reed fan club]

kidbazooka1 Wrote:Damn this topic has been beat to death.

OK Steels job is to watch the fighter not the clock. Meldrick was hurt big time and takeing a horrible beating. When Steele asked if he could continue Taylor didn't/couldn't respond therefore Steel made 100% the right call.

But ppl like to get all bitchy cuz of the two mins left but the ref shouldnt give a f*ck bout the time his job is the safety of the fighter. Nuff said.

End of discussion.

That is very convenient white and black version of it. When a ref can see that the round only has about 2 seconds left and it is the last round of a world championship fight then he should have the gumption to let it go.

Rules are rules but a referee also has some discretion about how to enforce those rules (see for instance Smoger in the Pavlik/Taylor fight). Sure Steele refereed it to the letter of the law, so to speak, but he could've let that fight go. I doubt Chavez would've even had time to get across to Taylor and land another punch.

[kidbazooka1]

Fitz Wrote:

You and Mexican's.

You darn right son. B)

[SmartyBeardo]

kidbazooka1 Wrote:Damn this topic has been beat to death.

OK Steels job is to watch the fighter not the clock. Meldrick was hurt big time and takeing a horrible beating. When Steele asked if he could continue Taylor didn't/couldn't respond therefore Steel made 100% the right call.

But ppl like to get all bitchy cuz of the two mins left but the ref shouldnt give a f*ck bout the time his job is the safety of the fighter. Nuff said.

End of discussion.

You so fucking tired of it? Don't participate. Especially if you are going to say "two mins" when it was two fucking seconds.

Now why don't you go ahead and rationalize the shit draw with Sweet Pea too.

STFU.

[STEVENSKI]

kidbazooka1 Wrote:Damn this topic has been beat to death.

OK Steels job is to watch the fighter not the clock. Meldrick was hurt big time and takeing a horrible beating. When Steele asked if he could continue Taylor didn't/couldn't respond therefore Steel made 100% the right call.

But ppl like to get all bitchy cuz of the two mins left but the ref shouldnt give a f*ck bout the time his job is the safety of the fighter. Nuff said.

End of discussion.

Steel did what he had to do in that situation. Hindsight is a wonderful thing Dick Steel had to make a split second judgement on this & would people still be complaining if there was 90 seconds left in the fight?

You can't complain about the time of the stoppage as it should not matter one iota how much time was on the clock only the fighters condition. I cannot see personally any reason why the fight should have been allowed to continue when you look at the shape Meldrick was in & his failure to respond to Steel.

I can see how people are pissed off at the stoppage but taking the time left out of the equation I question anyones sanity if they think Taylor should have been anything but stopped from continuing. Simply put he was absolutely fucked at that stage.