That is how fighters die!

There wasn't really any point where the corner or ref could have said he was done. Kirkland was just tapping away at him and not letting him clear his head once he was shook.

Kirkand's stamina is far overrated imo...He had nothing left in the tank but had the heart to keep moving his hands. Tapia was either extremely hurt or extremely stupid the way he just put his hands alongside his face and took shot after shot. I understand trying to make Kirkland punch himself out but at least try to block the punches.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, during the break before the last round, his corner is giving him a pep talk, and the kid is unresponsive. The doc comes in, examines him and tells them it is ok. This is one round after the kid sat there, looked the doc in the eyes and said he's ok , and to let him fight. There was a marked difference.

And Tapia was wearing muffs because Kirkland was attacking him relentlessly to the head, when not to the body. Didn't seem tired at all to me. Tapia's returns were becoming weaker and weaker, and less and less, from round 2 on. His corner were kidding themselves if they thought he had any chance whatsoever of making it thru that final round.

 

I like how we always see completely different fights

The doc had said he wasn't gonna be able to take any more clean shots. Second impact syndrome. The doc probably thought he was concussed, which is why Smoger told him no more "severe shots" even though Tapia was responsive. The next round he was even more ****ed and looked like he was falling asleep, but when the doc looked at him his eyes were open and he was responsive (to the doc). Tapia wanted to continue and he was in a position where he wasn't going to win and was only going to take an extended beating because...

Kirkland was punched out. You could see it. He had the juice to throw, but he was touching and touching instead of trying to hack him down like Kirkland does at full strength.

I'm not saying Tapia shouldn't wear the muffs, that's exactly what he needed to do, cover up and let Kirkland punch himself out. But you could see Tapia was so shook he wasn't covering up. There's a difference between just putting your hands up to your ears and actually using them for defense. Everything from Kirkland was getting through, especially uppercuts right through the hands.

Problem is that when Tapia slapped at him it was semi-effective, especially downstairs. We all saw what kind of nothing-punches Kirkland can be knocked out with. Everybody watching knew Kirkland was gonna get him and that Tapia was just throwing his hands out sometimes to stay in the fight, but his corner knows him and probably felt like he could get him (or convinced themselves of it). Obviously a bad decision but sometimes corners think their kid is special and it takes something like this to wake them up.

There was never that one moment where he took a huge shot or lost his legs (til right after it was stopped).

 

The last I agree with.

I disagree with Kirkland punching himself out. He was throwing short chopping shots, but he was throwing about 100 per round after the 1st. He looked fine to me. He didn't look like he was disproportionally slowing down, as gassed fighters do. He was on the constant attack.

As for the Tapia in the corner..... You didn't see a difference at the break in rounds 4 and 5?? Before the 6th, it was obvious to me he wouldn't make it out of that round. He had nothing left. He wasn't playing possum, or letting Kirkland punch himself out. He was trying to avoid damage, and survive.

 

I know Smoger has a great reputation but he could have done more to prevent that last left, he should have grabbed Kirkland or pushed him back

I did not like that last left, like those unnecessary shots you see in UFC when a guy is flat as a board on the ground limp and you see a guy wind up and nail them in the face

Tapia looked done in his corner after 3 or 4 he was squinting his eyes and very unresponsive in the corner looked lost

he did nothing after 2 minutes into the fight and for 15 seconds after the Doc and Smoger said do something or its over. Tapia got crunched