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if steele had stopped the fight with 1 minute or 2 minutes left, would eveyrone be saying taylor was robbed????? cause steele asked him twice if he was ok and got no response. that means the fighter is out on their feet and the ref should stop it. but it seems people say he was robbed cause their were 2 seconds left in the fight. does 2 seconds really matter more than 2 minutes????

is it maybe u feel bad for taylor cause if steele had waited 2 more seconds he would have won the decision.

but the fact is isnt steele supposed to judge whether to stop the fight based on the fighter being not able to continue?? not because theirs 5 seconds left and he should let the fighter survive the round since its the last round. if refs did that, than holmes, bruno, would have survived another round against tyson since the refs stopped the fight with less than 5 seconds left.
it reminds me of tony weeks stoppage on castillo. even though castillo knocked down castillio twice and was getting a 10-6 round (penalty), he was getting pummeled at the end of the round and tony weeks stopped it. people felt he should have given castillo more time. well i gaunranttee u if castillo hadnt scored those 2 kds people wouldnt say that. its because castillo was winning and almost knocked corrales out, and week couldnt stay their seeing castillo like a rag doll get pummeled and get hurt thinking ill give castillo 10 more seconds cause it will be devastating loss for him if i stop it.

my thoughts are the ref had to do what he would normally do and that time didnt matter. but maybe i am wrong????? but he cant give taylor a break just cause he knows theirs less than 10 seconds left and taylor might be ahead.

as in cooney-norton - the doctor proclaimed norton 4 seconds away from death. so as u can see, 2 seconds, 4 seconds, 10 seconds, are the difference between life and death. or a future career and retirement by fatal injury.

I agree with you about the Chavez fight stoppage and the Castillo fight stoppage.. but I don't think they're good comparisons because, Chavez was hitting the harder punches, Chavez pretty much ended Taylor's career that night.. as for Castillo vs Corrales, the stoppage was correct.. the only thing that I disliked were Corrales mouthpiece tactics, which ultimately were successful and a smart idea but I lost respect for him because he earned extra time by using a cheap tactic. So what i'm trying to say is some people think that Taylor was robbed because of the stoppage even though he was winning and in the Castillo fight, most people think he was robbed because of the spitting of the mouth tactic not because of the stoppage. Anyway, good points about the Chavez and Castillo fight. I agreed with both stoppages.. Taylor didn't seem to know what was going on, and Castillo rolled his eyes a bit... so i'd say they were both good stoppages but both will always be controversial. Taylor's because it was the last few seconds and he was winning the whole fight. Castillo's because had Corrales not gotten his time to recover.. I'd say Castillo would have KO'd Corrales. I don't blame the ref for either of those fights though.

Taylor did respond though - (first off) - He clearly responds to Steele the second time -

Additionally if Taylor just stays down!...he wins! Because the bell saves him - Yet, because he isn't knocked out and he has the ability to get up (a la, Corrales getting up after being knocked down twice!! Vs castillo...and rocked big time)....

Because Taylor gets up.....he loses! - That is just BS -

Steele knows when there is less than 10 seconds left in every round. These 10 seconds are completely handled differently then there being 2 minutes left in a fight. Especially in the last round of a major title fight -

Meade 95. You were obviously watching a different fight. No way did Taylor respond to Steele...that's the most definite thing about that fight. When Steele looks into his eyes and asks him, Taylor is out on his feet. He can't respond because he is in serious trouble. Steele should be commended for a very crucial call in the LIFE of Meldrick Taylor

Even Taylor's own trainer said that Taylor did not respond.. of course he said that he didn't respond because he was too busy looking at the corner for instructions but the point is he didn't respond.

Taylor's corner said he didn't respond directly to the Ref - But he was responding, he was looking and listening to his corner (which shows a cognative mental decision...or mental ability) - He also nodded his head to Steele when Steele asks him something for the second time - He most certainly does nod his head slightly -

Irregardless..... if Taylor simply stays down (and quits)...he wins the fight!! - THe bell saves him and he wins!! - But because he has a fighters heart and will...and the "ability" to get up Steele takes the fight away from him!

It is Steele job to KNOW that there was less than 10 seconds in the match - That is his job! - It was a terrible decision by him to stop the fight - Again, JC would have never even got another punch off before the bell would have come in - THere was no way for Taylor even to be hurt -

Steele calls the fight off...and the bell rings within seconds -

No one can say while being intellectually honest that JC beat M. Taylor (without the help of the Ref) - Again, if Taylor simply stays on the ground!!..and allows the Ref to count.......Steele doesn't make it to 10.....before the bell rings...and M. Taylor wins!

Yet because he stood up (a la Corrales Vs Castillo)...he losses -

I guess after the second kd Castillo scored on Corrales....they should have just stopped the fight....(because Corrales was rocked bigger than M. Taylor was).

What I find out about JC fans....is it would be one thing to just say...."that's boxing....it happens....tough break....M. Taylor shouldn't have got himself knocked down, etc, etc" -......

But to try and intellectually suggest it wasn't a sh*t call......blows my mind...and simply shows a bias.

Ive had this debate over and over the last 15 years and I still say the stoppage was bullshit! Taylor was alert and maybe he was a little inexperienced and was listening to his corner instead of the ref but he was still responsive..I hate Richard Steeles guts to this day for robbing that kid like that. 2 seconds, cmon man give me a effin break!! The fight DESERVED to go to the cards.

Well it just sucked to be Taylor that day. I'm with the folks that think Steele goofed up, but those who think Steele held Taylors life in his hands can't be faulted. I just don't think it was that critical. The damage was done and 2 seconds was not going to make a difference.

The strangest thing about that fight isn't Steeles mistake it's that Giampa had JCC ahead. Is there another person who thinks that if Taylor would have made it through 2 more seconds that he was NOT the winner of that fight?

I want to hear from them and their rationale. Has Giampa ever commented on it for the record?

Chavez started to close in on Taylor in the late rounds but Taylor had gained to much of a lead in my opinion...to be honest I think if the fight would of went to the cards Taylor would of been robbed anyway....there was no way he was gonna beat the Don King promoted great Chavez that day unless he KO'd him.

there was no way taylor could lose

he was up on two of the cards 107-102 taylor and 108-101 taylor and 105-104 chavez.

so if u count the 10-8 round in the 12th

final scorecards would have been 115-112 chavez 115-102 taylor and 116-111 taylor.

I think it was a horrible call by Steele. However, What hurt Taylor was the fact that he did not look at Steele when he asked him if he was alright. He did appear to be alright to continue the final 2-3 seconds, however, he made the mistake of looking to his corner instead of Steele.............

A couple of questions always come to mind on this stoppage.

1. Did Steele pull it out of the bag for Chavez or possibly the more influential King?

2. If it was the other way round and it was the US Olympian who got the decision and not the Mexican would this fight still attract so much attention?

I like Meade's obsevation that if taylor stayed down he would have won. That's got to tell you everything about what happened. over 15 rounds I think Chavez would have KO'd him but over 12 it seems like a harsh decision by Steele.

Ezzard wrote:A couple of questions always come to mind on this stoppage.

1. Did Steele pull it out of the bag for Chavez or possibly the more influential King?

2. If it was the other way round and it was the US Olympian who got the decision and not the Mexican would this fight still attract so much attention?

I like Meade's obsevation that if taylor stayed down he would have won. That's got to tell you everything about what happened. over 15 rounds I think Chavez would have KO'd him but over 12 it seems like a harsh decision by Steele.

Agreed, there was really something very shady about that stoppage and not surprisingly it was the last big time fight that Steele refereed. I also question Lou Duva for telling him he needed to win the 12th rd..wtf??? Then again Duva probably figured that they would try to rob Taylor so thats why he told him that.

and what about Giampa? what was that all about? Any idea at all?

If Taylor would have stayed down, he would have been counted out before the bell would have been able to save him. Steele counted to eight, then took a few seconds to ask him if he was alright. Then he stopped it with two seconds remaining. The time Steele took to ask him if he was ok would have been more than enough time to count him out.

Correct, yays.

When the topic was fresh, I did time the span from the knockdown to a stoppage. Memory is not crystal-clear right now but I believe Taylor went down 15 seconds before the bell. Steele gave him 5 extra seconds after stopping the count (total of 13) to recover before making up his mind and waving it over.

At the point of 8 (or even 9) seconds Taylor was still grabbing the ropes and in NO condition to continue... To be fair, that should have been the moment of letting Chavez again at him - and that would have been a murder.