One of my fav fights along with the rematch and I think the stoppage was legitimate. Taylor toke enough of a beating in the last few rounds and didn't respond clearly to Steele. Blah blah Duva jumped on the corner but the truth remains that he didn't respond strong enough to Steele. Good stoppage.
I remember watching a documentary on this and in an interview with steele, steele was saying up close the blows jcc was landing in the fight and especially in the last few rounds were sickening, if taylor had replied and looked at him, he woulda let it go on, he didn't and so steele stopped it, correctly.
Check out one of Chavez' fights..The one against Rodolfo Aguilar...Steele is the ref, and stops the fight in a similar way to the Taylor fight, after Aguilar is knocked down, and clearly not there anymore, Steele asks him if hes ok, he dont answer and Steele stops it. This was in the middle of the 6th round.
If Steele would of let it continue, EVERYBODY would be blaming him for letting Taylor receive inreversible damage from a brutal shot by a desperate Chavez who was aware he wasnt winning that fight. Steele made the right decision. Thats a badass Cotto AV by the way. :good
If Taylor would have responded, he would have won a MD, I believe. He didn't, so he lost. Next question, please.
When I see debacles like Briggs getting pounded the distance or lets say Duran vs. Moore where it looks like the ref will never step in even if the other guys head falls off, in a sport where the stigma of a fighter quiting on his stool is long lasting and damaging to his reputation, the ref has to assume responsibility with clear, universal criteria. Would I have stopped the fight? No, knowing what time it is and the probably score of the fight. However, Steele showed INTEGRITY in stopping this fight. The refs who were watching fights like Briggs who did not at least strongly suggest to the corner they were going to stop it if the beating continued should be looking at the long term health of the beaten fighter. I respect Steele a lot more now that I am older, and I think what he did required a lot of sticking to his convictions about when a fighter has had enough punishment, regardless of who was winning the fight or what round it was. Always controversial, but a decision that showed consistency in ethics and integrity.
chavez earned the tko no matter how much time was left.Taylor was out of it and didnt respond ,and as someone said ,today they would be blaming steele for taylors current condition. its like getting a last second field goal,a last second pin in wrestling, it dont matter who was ahead earlier in the match or fight,a field goal is a field goal,a pin is a pin,and a tko is a tko! Taylor was tko'ed!
Taylor schooled Chavez? He started great but couldn't finish. I mean look at the guy's face after 12 rounds. How many seconds were left is completely irrelevant. He couldn't answer the ref, the fight was stopped, as simple as that. If you put your bias aside, you do you really think looked like the winner at the end of that fight? I honestly don't buy all of that controversy ****.
JCC had about 2-5 seconds left to probably KILL Taylor. The Ref potentially saved Taylor's life. As it is, as a result of the fight, Taylor suffered brain damage, broken orbital bone, busted Kidneys, etc...
Sorry to burst your bubble, but most FANS agree Chavez won, be them European, Puerto Rican, or from any other country, most agree Chavez the Mexican kicked the **** out of Taylor (literally) and won the fight. Stupid ****. :good
the fight was waved off with 5 second left to go. YOu guys honestly dont think Chavez would have landed at least one more blow, the stoppage would have probably be even more legitimate?