If Mills Lane Calls The Chavez-Taylor I Fight Does He Stop It In The 12th Round?

I can't help but think that if Mills Lane called the fight instead of Steele in that fight he let's it's go on, could I be wrong? Did Taylor sustain so much punishment during the fight and in particular the 12 round, that the fight needed to be stopped with mere seconds left in the fight?

 

I don't think Lane would have stopped it. Nor do I think any of the other top refs at that time would have either. Smoger, Mercante JR. and especially Frank Cappacunio would have recognized the gravity of that moment and stayed out of the way. Steele was known for his inconsistency especially during Don King promoted events.

 

Just watched it again, and even though Taylor took hard shots during the fight he was coherent for another 2 seconds in which Chavez would have never been able to throw another single punch. No wonder Steele is looked at as the worst referee in the history of pro boxing. Booooo.

 

Bull****! Corruption in 1990, Taylor should have won that fight. 2 ****ing seconds? Bull****

 

no

 

Not just Lane, but I should imagine a number of Referees might have let the bout go on.

That said, Referees are asked to make split-second calls all the time and it's hard to know what the trigger would be for anyone other than Steele in the heat of that particular moment.

 

Richard Steele wouldn't of stopped it either if it was Chavez in that position and not Taylor.

 

I remember it so vividly. I can remember my dad screaming at the TV in disbelief. Maybe a few weeks before, Tyson had been knocked out by Douglas and King was trying to get that overturned because he said that there was a long count which everyone knows was BS. King did everything in his power to make sure Chavez didn't lose this fight especially to a Duva fighter. Chavez was a massive money maker for King.

 

With the rules that the fighter shall speak to the ref that they can continue, Meldrick could've spoke any gibberish and he can win

 

No way Mills stops that fight.

 

they do not produce refs like mills any more. TWO SECONDS! no time to even cross the ring. and i, like AwardedSteak863 above have ALWAYS been suspicious of this stoppage for the same reasons1

 

Yes

He wasn't responsive when Steele asked him a question, twice. He was vacant eyed, bloodied and had just sustained a hard KD. If you're in that condition and can't/won't respond, you're putting yourself in a position where an official can stop the fight. It doesn't matter if there are two seconds or two nanoseconds left in the round. It's the official's position to determine if the fighter can continue in that moment. In that moment, Taylor didn't look like he could continue.

Stoppage was fine. I've seen worse. Far worse.

As for whether Lane would stop it...Who knows? He had a tendency to let fights go on too long (see Ali-Foster and Curry-McCrory) so I lean "no" to the original quesion, but officials react differently in each moment so I can't say for sure.

 

It looked like He was looking to his corner, maybe to see how much time was left. Steele dropped the ball in many more fights after this.

 

I’m guessing no. But at the end of the day it’s just a guess

 

It doesn't matter what Taylor's motivation may have been. He needed to answer the question definitively. He didn't.

As for Steele, he made a few errors because he's not perfect and no one is, but he's hardly the worse referee in history or even in North America. He made a call that I feel a lot of other officials might have made in his position.