Mike Tyson vs Razor Ruddock Fight: Did the Referee Stopped the Fight Too Soon?

[elmersalsa]

Iron Mike was getting the benefit of a doubt when having a man hurt, the referee was like if he counted very fast. Ever since the Carl "The Truth" Williams fight, the referees had the aura of stopping the fight very quickly once a Tyson's opponent was in trouble or in queer street.

And it happened again in his first fight with dangerous puncher Donovan "Razor" Ruddock of Jamaica. A left hook by Tyson in Ruddock's jaw put him reeling to the ropes. As soon the referee saw that, he stopped the fight and Tyson was the winner by TKO in round 7. But, my question was at the time, "Was it really a TKO win for Iron Mike?" He was winning the fight big time. He dropped Ruddock on the 2nd and 3rd rounds. And Tyson was winning comfortably 59-54 by round 7 in my scorecard. But, in round 6, which was Ruddock's best round, it seemed like he was coming back strong. The other thing was that the knockdown in round 2 should have not be called a knockdown. Ruddock tripped in Tyson's foot. Ruddock protested but the referee still ruled it a knockdown.

Referee Richard Steele was known at the time as a suspicious referee for promoter Don King ever since the Julio Cesar Chavez vs Meldrick Taylor fight #1 the year before.

Was this a possibility of protecting Tyson to win against a dangerous opponent like Ruddock at any cost, or was it that the referee stopped the fight too soon?

Your thoughts.

[Noxy]

Yes, I remember that fight. I felt it the ref jumped in too early. I think Ruddock was pretty taken aback too and genuinely protested it as opposed to just the token protest.

[Onetimeonly]

He sure did, rich always had money at stake in big king fights if he had a chance to make a move. Tyson beat Ruddock's balls in the rematch golota style.

[overhand_right]

Ruddock proved unexpectedly sturdy and buzzed Tyson in the round previous. The smell of Tokyo was in the air and the Don King ref made sure he saved the Don King cash cow at the first opportunity. In hindsight we know Tyson would have come through but it must have been scary on the night for King and Sulaiman et al.

I don't think it merits a thread, given how obvious the answer is. The press at the time were enraged, hence the swift rematch.

[Ambling Alp II]

It was too bad. It was a pretty good fight with a lot of action. Tyson probably would have won anyway, but Ruddock deserved the chance to continue. Not sure if was just King who Steel took $ from in his referring career, but it was obvious that he was crooked. There are several other fights where he was favoring one fighter.

[Duran1970]

Yes it was stopped early. . And the man I watched it with agreed,...... The one and only George Chuvalo..

[jas80s]

Yes it was stopped early. . And the man I watched it with agreed,...... The one and only George Chuvalo..

George must have been mystified at how you could stop a fight after a couple of little "love taps" like that...

Definitely a quick stoppage. Beyond the corruption angle (which is quite possible, of course) you wonder if maybe Tyson's reputation as a finisher played into the stoppage. His ability to finish a reeling fighter was really extraordinary, one of his real strengths.