Chavez-Taylor I...Round 12

No I don't expect him to ask him five times, but I don't expect him to just ask once especially when he knows a fighters is looking into his corner! As far as bringing up Tito against Hops...lol! Bad example.. Tito had been down several times up to that point, and Taylor had been down how many times before the Chavez fight:huh Taylor looked fatigued, but not out of it. Ppl mistake the two. If he was so out of it he wouldn't not have been able to get up and direct his attention to his own corner. He wasn't lost in space. Now I blame him too because he directed his attention to the wrong person, but as a professional Steele knew what was going on. He's seen it before. It's not uncommon for a fighter to look to his corner after being Kd so just cut that crap about 100% of fighters! Alot of fighter do it, even when it's a flash KD Hell...if a fight was stopped everytime a fighter looked into his corner before ans, or evrytime they looked into there corner before coming forward for a ref fighters K0%'s would skyrocket, and plenty of fighter would have plenty more losses!

Again as far as the injuries...he fought on w/them til the very end so they don't weigh in on Steele's horrible decision:nono The other thing is Taylor fought valiantly til the end and deserved to finish. Steele was well aware and knew that there was under 10secs left, and he also knew that the fighter could be saved by the bell in the 12rd so if the fight went on Taylor would have won regardless. He had to stop that fight for King, Chavez, and his own pockets!! Steele knew exactly what he had to do!!

Good Job Steele!!atsch

 

Agree 100%

 

As the years have gone by, I'm a little more philosophical about this fight. Taylor showed amazing ability on that night, and Chavez staged an equally amazing comeback.
It's very unfortunate that the fight had to end in such controversy, but I'd now rather focus on the accomplishments of both fighters that night.

The real shame is that there wasn't a rematch shortly after this fight. That could have put the issue to rest.
Instead, when the rematch did happen, Taylor was a shell of his former self.

 

Bottom line.... Steele asked Taylor a question, Taylor didn't (or couldn't) respond. That ends the fight.

 

Biggame, ok i see your point....:good

I agree to disagree:good , boxing fans like us will be debating this one until who knows when...just the way it is......only Steele really knows why he made that call, Taylor helped him by not responding.......Taylor fought his heart out, and its tragic of what happened to him on that night, with the possible brain damage and leaving his prime in the ring.....
when i watch the HBO special its sad on what happened to him, my heart goes out ot the poor guy who now doesnt even seem like he speaks English anymore...i guess what we can agree on is that it was a hell of a fight:good

 

2 seconds is 2 seconds. . . its 2 seconds LEFT in the fight. . . Chavez beat him to the point where he could not continue, he did so within the timeframe of the fight.

 

No doubt:good

Taylor is a tragic story, and he and Chavez will forever be linked!! Both warrior's to well respected, anf that night will live forever in Boxing!!
​

 

:happy :happy

Exactly. How this fact is lost on supposedly objective people is beyond me. Meldrick fought his ass off in that fight - they both did. I don't think it's fair to Chavez for steele to cut meldrick a break on account of the clock. Until the bell rings the fighters and the ref are bound to the rules. Period. Steele catches too much **** for adhering to that in this fight.

 

Those are good observations.

A couple of other things about the 12th round....

At the begining of the round Jim Lampley says something like...."Chavez has three minutes to come up with an unlikely stoppage, and right now it doesn't look like he's got the stuff to get it done."

Near the end of the round, Taylor starts showboating in front of Chavez....a couple of seconds later, Chavez landed the right hand that set up the stoppage.

Chavez made some people look foolish that night.

The stoppage....

There are two ways to win a boxing match....

A. Render your opponent unfit to continue inside of the allotted time.
B. Win enough rounds to get a lead on the judges cards, and make it to the final bell so that the scorecards can be read.

Chavez achieved A.

If Steele had given Taylor the benefit of the doubt(and to quote Evander Holyfield...."No one gives you anything in this buisiness."), we'd be debating wether Chavez was robbed of a hard earned victory.

Good Stoppage.

 

Biggame, your opinion that nobody knew the extent of the damage that Taylor had suffered at the time that Steele stopped the fight does'nt hold water.

Richard Steele was the man closest to the action.
If anybody knew the punishment and damage absorbed by Taylor it was him.

Quotes from Richard Steele, "Chavez was landing shots to break bones!"
......another I have heard from Steele was that Chavez shots would bring about involuntary grunts and noises from Meldrick Taylor.

.....and Steele was observing both fighters. When Steele was giving Taylor the count after he had been knocked down, he was looking straight at Meldrick Taylor's eyes and analyzing his response and condition as he counted.

Steele had the right to stop the fight on the fact that Taylor did'nt respond to his question.
....but even more weight imo was put fourth by Steele as he weighed what had transpired throughout the fight, and he analyzed the condition of Taylor as he counted.

Those that are against the stoppage for some reason feel that Taylor had dominated the fight up to that point....but thats a mythical opinion brought by the announcing team at HBO.

Richard Steele stopped the fight for three reasons.....

1 Meldrick Taylor took a consistent hard pounding beatdown throughout most of the fight.

2 Richard Steele as he counted, saw that Meldrick Taylor had a blank stare into space, as if he was out of it.

3 Meldrick Taylor did nothing in the time frame of the count to let Steele know that he could continue, add to that to boot if it was even necessary at that point after Steele had seen all the signs of a spent fighter who could'nt continue....if Steele needed any other reassurance for himself as he was about to stop the fight, he asks Taylor twice are you OK, and does'nt get a response.


You'd have to be an absolute moron of a referee to have let the fight continue after those observations.

Biggame, straight out man, your reasoning that Steele should have let Taylor continue are absolutely full of fighter favoritism baloney and absurdity.
There is no other way for me to put it!

 

The referee is not a timekeeper, his sole purpose is to look after the health of the fighters; Taylor could not carry on in his opinion thus Steele did the right thing.

The truth is even if that final bell had gone, Taylor was shot, Chavez had given him such a beating (broken eye orbital; big cut in the mouth that Duva himself said Taylor may of swallowed a pint of blood), that Meldrick would never be the same fighter again.

It is sad when a potentially brilliant fighter is ruined in one match, it does make you feel very sorry for him, particularly when you take so much enjoyment out of the fight that ruined him, but that is boxing.

Chavez was classy enough to give Taylor one more big pay day in a rematch that Taylor did not deserve (in the time period) but needed from a financial sense.

 

No favortism at all, and no absurdity!:nono

It's an opinion and I'm not the only one of that opinion. I can turn around around and say that your opinion reaks of the same thing couldn't I!! I'm not going to though cause I'm positive you're looking for a fight!

Anyway I feel the stoppage was BS, and Steele took that opportunity to help out King and his fighter. There's not much more that can be said about it, or change that!! I disagree w/you about your take, but I won't come across like you abd act like your opinion is one of a foolish man!!

Thanks for your take buddy!!
:hi:

 

we should all (except Taylor) appreciate what Richard Steele did, he gave all of us die hard fans something to debate about til the cows come home.....i dont know if anyone could have predicted how strong and passionate people would feel about that Contraversial call........:good

 

I have always said and still maintain that the stoppage was legit. Its not Steeles job to watch the time. He's there to protect the fighter. Taylor didnt respond when asked to so Steele called the fight. He was doing his job.

 

No doubt!!:good