Terrible stoppage in Stevens fight

Stevens got gifted with a miracle win.

Johnson will gifted with a redeeming rematch.

 

Juist watched it terrible stoppage although unklike Froch vs. Groves the stoppage may have been coming in the next few seconds here.

 

The sequence that ultimately ended the fight took approximately 5 seconds from left hook to stoppage. There was roughly a minute left. That's an eternity in boxing terms.

When you see a guy nearly get decapitated up close like that and then he fades into the ropes (eating more shots on the way back and shelling up), your first instinct is going to be to stop it. This isn't Paulie we're talking about here; this is a guy who's laid fighters flat out routinely.

All in all, I do think (from my perspective as a fan watching on TV) that a few more seconds were justified. If I'd seen it up close and had to think on my feet at the time, without the benefit of TV angles, pausing, and instant replay, I may well have done the exact same thing the ref did though.

 

Howard Foster likes this

 

a fighter that hasnt been hurt the entire fight, hasnt been knocked down, and is actually winning with only a minute left? .... sorry man, but the guy deserves to get the benefit of the doubt as in waiting until 1 knockdown at least. Boxing is a tough sport and the guys job is to take the other mans shot if he has to...which he did. if the ref is that squeamish when he sees a few big punches land, maybe he needs to go ref tennis or something.
such cliche excuses to justify like he "could have been hurt" . he could get hurt 5 seconds after the bell rings because thats what the sport is. they once mandated standing 8 counts so there would be less hair trigger panic stoppages like this...they need to bring them back all the time or get refs that have common sense

 

Haven't had a great chance to reexamine it

To me Johnson was hurt enough where a stoppage was ok but merely wasn't given the time to recover

It happened so fast, he was rocked a few more came in and the ref called it

Very very fast, had the barrage lasted a little longer and the same kind of connect thst started it all came in agsin a stop was fine

 

A lot of boxing fans want to see fighter's lives get played with. The ref sided on caution for good reason. Better safe than sorry.

 

Boxing is crooked, will soon become WWE................