I just finished watching the Leonard-Howard fiasco where the referee stopped the fight with Howard upright and defending himself. It was a ridiculous stoppage. In the Benitez and Hearns fights the referee stopped the bouts prematurely, as well. Leonard was beating Benitez, but the ref still had no cause to stop it. And in the Hearns fight, Leonard was so far behind it really looked like the referee was doing him a huge favor by stepping in when he did. Why do you think premature stoppages were so common in Leonard fights? Do you think arrangements were made? Or do you think that referees were under the same spell that so many other people were (and continue to be) under? You know, wanting so badly for Leonard to win and win spectacularly that they played a roll in making sure of that outcome?
Leonard would've hurt Hearns badly had the fight not been stopped. I thought the Benitez stoppage was quick.
It looked to me that Hearns was taking a pounding before it ended during the 14th round, especially to the body. He looked a spent force and was coming back with nothing. You must also take into account that Hearns was all over the place in the 13th round as well. Leonard put serious hurt on the kid during the round it was stopped. If the referee never stopped the fight, then perhaps Leonard would have started the 15th round with a rib attached to his his left glove.
Leonard wasn't THAT far behind, with the 10-8 in the 14th he needed a 10-9 in the 15th to get a draw or another 10-8 (which was EXTREMELY likely) to get the win. Both the stoppages mentioned in the OP were good IMHO, I didn't see Hearns doing too much complaining about it at the time.
Yeah, I agree. Fast combination punchers tend to get a few like that though. The ref sees the punches flying in, other guy not answering back and waves it off.
Kalule did get dicked in '81............ The round had ended........ Christ, let him sit down and recover--if possible........... SRL was gonna win, but Kalule should've come out for round 10...... :good MR.BILL Big Dick Flaherty stopped the fight in round 9 when Leonard wobbled Howard, but I sense Ray was gonna drop Howard soon after....... :hey
I'd always heard that Kalule said something to the ref after rising indicating that he couldn't continue (with neither being aware that the round had ended).
Didn't see the point in the referee stopping the Leonard-Benitez fight. Hearns-Leonard was a justified stoppage, Hearns had nothing left. Kalule told the referee he didn't want to continue, not knowing the round had ended. He said had he known the bell was going to save him, he would have continued.