Just a simple question. Watching it again it seemed young Mancini’s youtfullness and vitality was too much for shopworn Bobby from the first round. The pro Chacon Reno crowd strongly disagreed with often-in-hard situations Richard Steele. Personally I did think the stoppage was a bit premature,as a warrior like Chacon had not even tasted the canvas yet and the context of Steele seemed to want to step in and stop it seconds earlier when Chacon was hurt but then when he actually stopped it Bobby seemed ok. For his part Chacon didnt protest it.
I thought it was okay. Chacon was getting raked from the very beginning, and showed no ability to get off the ropes or hurt Mancini at all, and he was hurt a few times. All that was going to happen was more and greater punishment from there on.
Chacon was still firing back and he was doing some good bobbing and weaving ... but he was generally getting lit up. In my opinion he wasn't going to win that fight. The ref could have let it tick over for another minute though.
It was premature but Chacon wasn't going to win and the referee did him a favour, really. I believe that Bobby thanked Steele after the fight.
I remember watching the fight at the time but haven't seen it for years, so my memory may be playing tricks, but from what I remember at the point of the stoppage Bobby's eyes were rolling in his head? I've seen fights allowed to go on longer than this one but I must admit that at the time I thought it was a sensible, compassionate stoppage. Chacon was getting banged up, had shown no signs of being able to hold off the younger, bigger and stronger Mancini and was only going to take a prolonged, painful beating, the type that, after several previous very hard fights, may cause problems in later life. As the OP says, Bobby didn't complain about the stoppage, when a warrior like Chacon doesn't complain, that suggests that Steele made the right call. One other point I'd like to make - Richard Steele was a controversial ref at the time (Chavez-Taylor for example) if the referee wasn't Steele and a similarly timed stoppage had been made, would the stoppage have been questioned so much?
I dont think the stoppage was contested because of Steele necessarily but because of Chacon's warrior image-his last 2 fights had been FOTY 1982 and respectively 1983. Basically the public thought he should have gone out on his shield. Personally I think Steele could have given him more benefit of the doubt as at the exact time of stoppage he was ok but,as others have said,it was only going to prolong a beating. Me thinks Bobby himself was pretty happy to walk away fine an d with that career high 575 k paycheck and the image he was stopped early. Basically it ended well for everyone involved.
This was one stoppage that I think Steele got right. Ray was too strong for Bobby especially at that point in there careers. Bobby was taking a beating and Steele protected the fighter like he should have. Now the Taylor and Ruddock stoppages are another story.
Any fight that inspired Warren Zevon is good enough for me: Hurry home early Hurry on home Boom Boom Mancini’s Fighting Bobby Chacon This content is protected
