BoxRec

On a blistering hot afternoon, Richard Steele, his wife and two
small daughters were welcomed to California's Imperial Valley.
Having driven more than two hours from their home in the
Los Angeles area and through the Imperial Desert, the Steele
family arrived in El Centro five hours before fight time.

This was a fight Steele did not want to miss. It would be the
first main event he would referee and he would serve as sole
official for the entire 24-round card. So that a novice promoter
could save a few dollars, the California State Athletic Com-
mission had sanctioned the use of a single official acting as
both judge and referee.

Sand storms in the Imperial Valley are not uncommon in the
spring and this year was no exception. Unfortunately much
of that sand filtered through the doors and windows of the
building serving as an arena and had settled on the 1000
chairs awaiting occupancy. After checking out the ring, Steele
and his wife picked up rags and began cleaning chairs alongside
the promoter and his wife until the job was completed. Welcome
to the big time, Richard!

The first fight of the evening, a four-round bout, was so hard
fought and entertaining, fans tossed money..the paper variety..
toward both boxers. Steele's decision, a draw! And a decision
met with approval throughout the arena.

In the main event, Danny Kimberling, an El Centro native, and
Victor Manuel Basilio, from across the border in Mexicali, fought
a ten round brawl. With fan loyality split about even between
the boxers, it was interesting to hear their reaction when
Steele scored all ten rounds for Kimberling! No riot, no booing,
just an enthusiastic ovation for two rugged fighters and for
the long night put in by the referee.

After the fights, a party was hosted by the promoter at a local
nightclub for the boxers, managers, trainers and everyone
involved in the first professional fight card held in the Imperial
Valley in over 30-years. When Steele and his wife were invited,
Richard declined gracefully and explained that his appearance
would not be proper. So we said goodbye and I handed him
a check for his $100. fee. As the Steele family drove off toward
Los Angeles, I thought to myself that on April 21, 1972, I had
met a man of honor and I have held that opinion of Richard
Steele for over three decades.

Boy are you rude.

facts terap..facts...names dates....what specific fights and if Steele was in on the hustle, tell us for who, how much or why. You've brought up Steele in other posts, but as his name is on this thread I'm using this one to ask you for some kind of back up.

and...no..and this will pop up again in another one somewhere..I am far from "innocent about ANYTHING in the boxing game.

Simonpure is nice enough to relate a story for us with fact, names and locations and terap basically calls it crap.

Frustrating is'nt it? If everybody on the planet told flex it is not the referee's job to watch the clock, he still would not listen.

hey..at least flex is expressing his opinion based on what he saw....unlike...well...anyway, he's not accusing Richard Steele of being "corrupted"..so let's give him some points for that.
I think the legit discussion here is whether the referee should be aware of the clock or not....both sides have had our say; one side is not going to change the mind of the other, so parhaps it's time to give this one a rest.

Flex, based on your years of experiance as referee in big-time championship boxing... if you think Steele blew the call in The Taylor Chavez fight ..then you must also think he stopped the first Tyson Ruddock match too quickly as well....

None of Tyson's fights were stopped too early. They all should have been stopped during the referee's instructions to save his opponents from a certain beating. Tyson was the greatest heavyweight ever. Period. He had a better chin than George Chuvalo, faster hands than Ismael Laguna, hit harder than Earnie Shavers and was stronger than George Foreman.

I cannot say anything nice about Richard Steel as a referee, so.

Taylor - Chavez I is why fights should be 15 rounds instead of 12.

Richard Steele is up there with Don King as disgraces to boxing. Richard Steele is the worst ref ever..........period........the end.



Hmmm......let's see here, I have Meldrick Taylor winning all 12 rounds, but he get's knocked down with 10 seconds left and is clearly able to continue.....I think I'll stop the fight so that my butt buddy Don King's fighter can win.

Hey david...if that's what was supposed to be going on in Richard Steele's mind, then he was incompetent...not for the reasons you give...but for scoring all twelve rounds for Taylor!!! or eleven rounds..or....oh well...

David Mills wrote:but he get's knocked down with 10 seconds left and is clearly able to continue.....I think I'll stop the fight so that my butt buddy Don King's fighter can win.

If Taylor was able to continue why didn't he answer Steele's questions?

Would we still be talking about that fight if it wasn't the Olympian darling Taylor that got allegedly screwed by Steele's call?
Would it still hurt so much if most fight fans (american at least) didn't want so badly for Chavez to finally lose a fight?

Not really hard to pick sides when you have the American gold medalist against the non-english speaking sombrero wearing Mexican from the streets. There's a controversial call, and there you have it:
A bunch of obsessives still wailing about it 13 years after the fact.

There was nothing corrupt about that stoppage. When Taylor got up, Steele was focused on Taylor and his eyes. Taylor didn't respond well and Steele made the judgment on stopping the fight on the only thing that matters - the condition of the fighter. I completely agree with his statement following the fight, "No fight is worth a man's life." Good call, good ref.

You guys are nuts........Taylor was looking to his corner and didn't hear Steele's questions.

It was a loud arena, why didn't Steele get his attention using his hands or something. It is clear when you look at the video that Taylor was not hurt. After Steele stops the fight, Taylor looks at him with a "Are you fornicating kidding me?" kind of expression on his face.

Anyone that agrees with that stoppage does not know boxing.

Someone should have drug Richard Steele into the street and shot him for blowing that fight.

I have nothing against Chavez, he is a great fighter, one of my top 10 P4P ever.......but with that said..........he got his fornicating ass kicked in that fight and did not deserve to win......it's that simple..........if you don't agree you are lying to yourself.

David Mills wrote:You guys are nuts........Taylor was looking to his corner and didn't hear Steele's questions.

It was a loud arena, why didn't Steele get his attention using his hands or something. It is clear when you look at the video that Taylor was not hurt. After Steele stops the fight, Taylor looks at him with a "Are you fornicating kidding me?" kind of expression on his face.

Anyone that agrees with that stoppage does not know boxing.

Someone should have drug Richard Steele into the street and shot him for blowing that fight.

I have nothing against Chavez, he is a great fighter, one of my top 10 P4P ever.......but with that said..........he got his fornicating ass kicked in that fight and did not deserve to win......it's that simple..........if you don't agree you are lying to yourself.

Now why in the hell would Steele wave his arms around when his face was 8 inches from Taylor's face. He was staring directly into his eyes. If you're saying that Meldrick couldn't tell Steele was there, I'm saying the fight absolutely should have been stopped.

Really Dave, how much sense does your post make?

Irrelevant (sp)anyway...at least as far as the real winner was concerned, and by that I mean on my scorcard. Haven't seen it anywhere for long time, but the announcers weren't calling the fight that was going on in the ring. With the knockdown in the final round, giving Chavez two points, I had it either him winning or a draw...can't remember which, but either one would have saved his title. He was killing Taylor inside and started taking him apart around the ninth...but not with those flashy Taylor flurrries that impress everyone but the afficiandos. Does anyone have the official score cards of the judges? Would be interesting to see if they were as wrong as they are as often as not.

Jaclem wrote:Irrelevant (sp)anyway...at least as far as the real winner was concerned, and by that I mean on my scorcard. Haven't seen it anywhere for long time, but the announcers weren't calling the fight that was going on in the ring. With the knockdown in the final round, giving Chavez two points, I had it either him winning or a draw...can't remember which, but either one would have saved his title. He was killing Taylor inside and started taking him apart around the ninth...but not with those flashy Taylor flurrries that impress everyone but the afficiandos. Does anyone have the official score cards of the judges? Would be interesting to see if they were as wrong as they are as often as not.

One of them had Chavez ahead going into the 12th. I think had the 12th been scored 10-8 Chavez, it would have been a draw, but I'll have to review my tape.