Tyson v Ruddock 1 - a fair stoppage?

[fists of fury]

Thanks to the wonderful invention that is youtube, I finally got to see the one of very few Tyson fights I have not yet seen.

If one remembers, this stoppage by Richard Steele was seen as very controversial, and for years afterward Steele had to endure catcalls of "Stop the fight Richard!"
Having read pages and pages of peoples' opinions over the years, my verdict is that the stoppage was premature.

Tyson hit Ruddock with a left hook which wobbled him, and a right, a left and another right (all of which were not well-timed and were grazing) had Donovan reeling into the ropes. At that point Steele, not even bothering to look at Ruddock, stops Tyson in his tracks and waves it off.
My gut feeling is that Ruddock was finished at that point, but surely he should have been given the benefit of the doubt here? I mean, a man does have the right to try and defend himself surely? As a matter of fact, Tyson should have been given the chance to end the fight convincingly, no?

What are your feelings on the matter?

[My dinner with Conteh]

Awful stoppage. Typical Steele-King shenanigans.

[TBooze]

Originally Posted by My dinner with Conteh

Awful stoppage. Typical Steele-King shenanigans.

You can never have an awful stoppage when a fight is stopped too soon IYO. Steele has the most important '0' in boxing: no ring deaths on his shift...

As this fight showed, nobody lost out, both made good money in a rematch.

[JohnThomas1]

Bad stoppage.

[ChrisPontius]

That stoppage was even more premature than the 'stoppage' that happened during the first time i got laid.

I thought the other often-discussed stoppage of Steele was rightful, though.

[Holmes' Jab]

Agree with the above posters, pretty poor stoppage. Despite saying that Razor didn't really show enough that he was fighting back/defending himself, though. I don't think Ruddock seemed to be too hurt at the time the fight was stopped. Would Ruddock have weathered the storm had he been allowed to continue? I suppose unless you let him do so you'll never know. Personally I would have given him that chance, though I'm sure Stelle took his decision on safety ground.


Ironically I watched the rematch for the first time in ages last night. It was a very goog slug-fest that fight, high octane stuff. Tyson won the early rounds and Ruddock didn't start that well, he seemed on the edge of defeat a few times when Tyson knocked him down in the second fourth, but Mike just failed to find the shots to finish it.

The fight became alot more even entering the mid-rounds, Ruddock gained a foothold was alot more successful with his jab, catching Tyson clean on more than a few occasions with hooks and disrupting his rythmn. What impressed me most was Tysons chin, some of the shots we walked through were chilling. The low blow decuctions certainly made thing interesting and depite being floored again Razor fought on gamely to the end. This fight proved two things: the resiliance of Tyson chin and Ruddocks heart.

How did you score the rematch?

[MrFoFody]

I though it was fair. Tyson had Ruddock reeling from quite a few unanswered power shots and all Ruddock was able to do is flail his arms around. Sure it may have been a little premature but the end was near. Ruddock wasn't complaining at the time of the stoppage in fact, he congratulated tyson with a hug.

[DamonD]

Ruddock slumped right back against the ropes, but I could contend that he had an odd habit of completely wiping out whenever he got knocked down anyway so Steele probably should've allowed for that. Look at the knockdowns against, say, Bonecrusher and Morrison and you'd think he'd never get up from those. But he did. The fact he could immediately look at Steele and protest showed there was no slowing of his mental faculties.

So I feel it's a premature stoppage because of that...Ruddock had commedable recuperation powers.

[My dinner with Conteh]

Originally Posted by TBooze

You can never have an awful stoppage when a fight is stopped too soon IYO. Steele has the most important '0' in boxing: no ring deaths on his shift...

As this fight showed, nobody lost out, both made good money in a rematch.

So weaver-Dokes was an ok stoppage. Why not stop Snipes and Holmes? Castillo-Corrales, etc etc? Maybe when Louis went down to Braddock they should've called it off? Clay-Cooper?

[MachineGunMitch]

Steele strikes again.........I remember watching it live
and knew that ref was gonna fuck it up and he delivered

[Ted Stickles]

Originally Posted by My dinner with Conteh

Awful stoppage. Typical Steele-King shenanigans.

What he said.........

[Doppleganger]

It's a shame. I used to rate Steele as one of the best but he's had too many dodgy decisions on his record now, of which this fight was one. I'm not even gonna mention the fight that should not be mentioned..




Oh, ok then, Chavez vs Taylor. Actually though, that stoppage for which Steele is much maligned for was more genuine than the Tyson Ruddock IMO.

It was a bad stoppage.

I defend stoppages such as Tyson-Carl Williams and Lewis-McCall 1, which others call premature, because I think the ref had to make a judgment call on a risen fighter and the fighter reacted all fucked up. But Ruddock was not getting hammered more than he had been in early moments of the fight, and he'd fired back in time on those occasions. I think he wasn't really given a chance to do that.

[TBooze]

Originally Posted by My dinner with Conteh

So weaver-Dokes was an ok stoppage.

Both made good money in a rematch, that is at the end of the day what many fighters quite rightly worry about.

It is much better to stop a fight 10 punches too early, than one too late IMO.

[josak]

Bad stoppage, but Ruddock was screwed anyway. He was wobbled pretty badly. Mike would of been all over him.