Meldrick taylor vs julio cesar chavez question?

Question

in the 1990 chavez vs meldrick taylor fight do you think steele had a brain f**t or do you think he screwed taylor on purpose.there was 4 seconds left and taylor got up from the knockdown.why did he stop the fight?i watched an interview with steele and he said that he did the right thing and if he had to he would do it again.do you think he favored chavez and when a chance came to help him he took it?

Answer 1

Steele did the right thing, even if he doesn't fully understand all the reasons why.   I have said that and maintain it since the fight.    Taylor had the fight won but his ego, and perhaps the damage he sustained during the fight, caused him to try to take Chavez out.  

Steele asked Taylor twice "are you ok?"  He got no response.  I can understand why some think Steele made a mistake.    Taylor was a country mile ahead.   However, two things MUST be considered.  

One:  The referee is NOT the time keeper.  It's true that Chavez would not even have had time to land another punch had the fight continued.    However,  YOU referee a fight and tell me if you know EXACTLY how much time is left in a round.   I'm sure Steele had SOME idea that more than half the time had elapsed.  However, you can't possibly know exactly how much time is left.   What if there are 15 seconds left?  

It's easy to say "Chavez still would not have done much damage".  Look again.   Meldrick was in VERY BAD shape.  Get a hold of the med records of the fighters.  Frazier beat Ali in 71.  However, he paid a HORRIBLE price for his victory.   He was never the same after that fight.   Neither was Taylor.    In a few short years,  Taylor struggled with the rest of his career, often losing to fighters he should have beaten.    He was a shell and he probably should have retired after the Chavez fight.   Not long after that, there was a very noticable decline in Meldrick's ability to speak clearly.

I honestly think Steele had second thoughts during and after he stopped that fight.   True, he is a bit of a 'safety first' official.  At worse I would say he played it safe.  I don't think he did it for the sake of saving Chavez in any way.  

I would bet Steele thought something like  "should I let it go, shouldn't I?...........He's in bad shape, Why chance it?"

Tell me who has a better point of view than the referee.   Sad for Taylor, who can't even talk today, but I still say Steele made the right decision.   It's too bad the damage was already done.

Answer 2

he did the right thing. go on you tube and search the HBO special on the fight . Just look at what heppened to taylor.then you can answer your own question.

Answer 3

Taylor was out on his feet. He could not defend himself. One more punch might have killed him! The refs job isn't to look at the clock and see how much time is left. It was a good stoppage

Answer 4

I think the guy was just doing his job. Taylor got up and was in lala land. Just leaning on the ropes. I felt bad for the guy when I was watching the fight live but even though he got up pretty fast he looked like a beaten man.

Oh and by the way I have never seen a ref look at his watch when a man goes down. Usually a good ref is able to block out all distractions and just focus on the action. If you watch the fight Steele was just looking straight at Meldricks eyes and they said it all.

Answer 5

Meldrick got assaulted that night. Even though it looked like Meldrick was killing Chavez, it was Meldrick who was getting hurt. Thanks to Lou Duva's inability to judge his prized boxer's health during the fight, he sent Taylor to his demise.

I consider Richard Steele as one of the best referees of boxing. I understand that HBO wanted Taylor to win, even though Chavez was literally killing taylor.

Answer 6

steele did not realise that taylor had swallowed two pints of blood which were probably starting to clot inside him at that stage.

he wasn't aware of taylor's broken ribs or jaw.

when steele waved it off, there were 5 or 6 seconds left on the clock, and when the bell rang to end the fight, there were 2 seconds left, so in those 5 or 6 seconds, chavez could've landed one more potentially dangerous right hand of inflict serious damage on taylor (look at taylor today!).

i totally agree with richard steele, he does not deserve all the criticism he received over the past 18 years because he put the welfare of a fighter first.

Answer 7

richard steel asked a simple question "are you ok ?" he asked twice "are you ok ?" taylor did not respond to the question and he was hanging on the ropes...the ref is not the time keeper,steele did not know how much time was left and he was just doing his job...taylor was ahead on all the judges score cards and yes i agree talor wouldve won on points...taylor was throwing tip tap punches that had no effect on chavez while chaves was connecting with power shots to the liver and head...taylor lost his prime in that fight,meldrick was in the hospital for a month and he was urinating pure blood for the first few days...doctors discovered taylor got permanent brain damage...imagine if it was a 15 round fight and the ref let it go on...taylor wouldve literally got killed!

Answer 8

I also agree he was doing his job by stopping the fight. It shouldn't matter how much time was left he was done by the look on his face.  Even if there was a minute left I think he would have done the same thing.

Plus look what happened in the rematch Taylor got KO'd again to shut up all critics!

Answer 9

He absolutely screwed Taylor.  You can see his Steele's eyes gaze at the flashing light signalling 10 seconds.  You can see him ask Taylor "do you want to continue", you can see Taylor say "yes".  Then Steele stops the fight claiming Taylor was concussed.  A concussed fighter doesn't  reach for the ring ropes to soften the fall.  Taylor knew where he was and wanted to continue.  Steele stopped the fight and you can see Taylor say "WHAT?  WHAT?"

It's an absolute fix.  And it's not the first time Steele tried to s***w a fighter.  Take a look at round 2 between Leon Spinks and Larry Holmes.