BoxRec

I know alot of people here dislike him, he has made some controversial calls but at the same time
he has also been the third man in some great matches.

I have always linked Steele, Cortez and Lane to my more memorable boxing matches when I was
much younger.

What is Richards back ground and what is he doing these days ?
I know he has been on insidemma a net based 'tv' show and he is pretty good on that.

I like him and while I have been frustrated at times, and I know I shall have people here
categorise me for this...but he is one of my favourite boxing personalities that is not
a prize fighter.

Kym

Have you seen Foreman-Ellis?

Yeah some time ago...all I recall is how much of a beating Ellis took.

I shall have to rewatch it again though as it was some time ago.

Robinson wrote:Yeah some time ago...all I recall is how much of a beating Ellis took.

I shall have to rewatch it again though as it was some time ago.

He stepped in & stopped the fight, then changed his mind. When was the last time you saw a ref do that? He also stared uncomprehendingly at Ellis as he failed to find his corner. I'm not a fan of Steele's. Will be interesting to see where this thread goes, though.

I too have fond memories of the many fights he officiated in the eighties. All in all, I think he was a decent referee who had a couple of really bad judgements that tainted his reputation somewhat disproportionally (we all know about Chavez-Taylor). You've got to give him this, however: He really cared about fighters and was first and foremost worried about their safety. Steele grew up in Los Angeles and was himself a light heavyweight pro fighter in the late sixties/early seventies, compiling a record of 12-4 before deciding to become the third man in the ring instead of one of the principles. I've also read that he's very religious--and though I could be wrong, I think he's also been a preacher or minister of some sort.

Steele was highly regarded through the 80's, didn't seem to put a foot wrong, then a couple of controversial stoppages favouring Don King fighters on Don King shows tainted him forever, rightly or wrongly. I think he had a gym in Vegas for a while and has again retired from refereeing.

yea this thread will soon become a hate-steele thread...i can feel it......

There's an old adage that the best referee is the one you can't remember. The event is the fight and fighters, not the referee. If the referee is the topic at the watercooler the morning after (or the watering hole the next afternoon), he or she probably didn't do a good job.

The correct spelling is Richard STEAL.
.

Steele let the Mugabi v Parker fight continue for awhile when Parker was in serious trouble.

Steele also did the Frank Tate-Michael Olajide fight. Tate completely dominated Olajide. It was a one sided beating. The fight should have been stopped in the mid rounds but Steele let it go the entire 15 rounds. (actually Olajide's corner should have stopped it as well.)

Steele also did the first Tyson-Ruddock fight and stopped the fight without even looking to see how badly Ruddock was hurt.

To be fair, I have seen him do several fights where he seemed to do a good job.

Michael Olajide. Now there's a guy that I thought was going places, but I guess I bought into the hype. Looked great against Dangerous Don Lee and a few others, but was exposed by Tate.

Forever defined by winning the day for Chavez I.M.H.O.

BoxBuzz wrote:Forever defined by winning the day for Chavez I.M.H.O.

BS...Taylor was beaten up, done, out on feet, in lala land. It was a good stoppage. Your opinion is trash.

ringsider wrote:

BoxBuzz wrote:Forever defined by winning the day for Chavez I.M.H.O.

BS...Taylor was beaten up, done, out on feet, in lala land. It was a good stoppage. Your opinion is trash.

Yeah he was, AND he could have been allowed to make it a few more seconds and been declared the winner of that particular go round.

Your opinion of my opinion adds value and luster to my statement. And for that I owe you one. Since my opinion is that it defines his career due to the controversial aspect of the call.....not so much whether you agree with his judgment or not but just the degree of the drama that was involved. It's the first thing most people think of when they think of Steele. Regardless of whether you think he did the right thing or not.

A nuance that seemed to be missed by your over zealous and seemingly emotionally opiniated response. Was Taylor a southpaw? I forget.

Stick to picking on those lefties, you're always a hoot when your addressing that subject.

boxbuzz says:blah,blah,blah.....Stick to picking on those lefties, you're always a hoot when your addressing that subject.

Yes I am....problem is I am right then too.

ringsider wrote:

boxbuzz says:blah,blah,blah.....Stick to picking on those lefties, you're always a hoot when your addressing that subject.

Yes I am....problem is I am right then too.

Ok then. Now sit down and have a Coke.

Richard was a light heavyweight fighter himself. You can find his record on here. As far as what he's doing now, he's a trainer and promoter here in Las Vegas. Infact, he's promoting a show in Texas near the end of the month. I see him often, as one of the fighters he trains, former UNLV basketball player Kaspars Kambala, has fought in the last three cards I worked, all at the Orleans Casino.

I hope that's an unopinionated answer to the questions the original poster asked.

VoiceOnTV wrote:Richard was a light heavyweight fighter himself. You can find his record on here. As far as what he's doing now, he's a trainer and promoter here in Las Vegas. Infact, he's promoting a show in Texas near the end of the month. I see him often, as one of the fighters he trains, former UNLV basketball player Kaspars Kambala, has fought in the last three cards I worked, all at the Orleans Casino.

I hope that's an unopinionated answer to the questions the original poster asked.

I'm not steamed, just giving ringsider his weekly dose of annoyance. He wouldn't know how to act if I lightened up on him.

Was Steele any good as a boxer? Anyone ever see him as a participant vs third man in the ring?

BoxBuzz wrote:

VoiceOnTV wrote:Richard was a light heavyweight fighter himself. You can find his record on here. As far as what he's doing now, he's a trainer and promoter here in Las Vegas. Infact, he's promoting a show in Texas near the end of the month. I see him often, as one of the fighters he trains, former UNLV basketball player Kaspars Kambala, has fought in the last three cards I worked, all at the Orleans Casino.

I hope that's an unopinionated answer to the questions the original poster asked.

I'm not steamed, just giving ringsider his weekly dose of annoyance. He wouldn't know how to act if I lightened up on him.

Was Steele any good as a boxer? Anyone ever see him as a participant vs third man in the ring?

Accoording to an "old timer" I had a few drinks with at a bar, he was pretty good. Honestly that's about the extent of how I could answer that. Never seen a clip or anything. I think he's aware of the fact that a lot of people don't like him, cause he can come off as standoff-ish until he gets to know you.

BoxBuzz wrote:

VoiceOnTV wrote:Richard was a light heavyweight fighter himself. You can find his record on here. As far as what he's doing now, he's a trainer and promoter here in Las Vegas. Infact, he's promoting a show in Texas near the end of the month. I see him often, as one of the fighters he trains, former UNLV basketball player Kaspars Kambala, has fought in the last three cards I worked, all at the Orleans Casino.

I hope that's an unopinionated answer to the questions the original poster asked.

I'm not steamed, just giving ringsider his weekly dose of annoyance. He wouldn't know how to act if I lightened up on him.

Was Steele any good as a boxer? Anyone ever see him as a participant vs third man in the ring?

I seen most if not all of Steele's fights, he fought all his fight at the Olympic and I didn't miss many fights back then, been manage by Jackie McCoy is the reason why he fought all his fights at the Olympic.

He was a good fighter, just not tough enough for the top guys, I think he was a better referee then fighter.

Im interested in seeing some of his fights now.

I believe that anyone who is objective has reason to believe that Richard Steele did not execute his role as referee correctly when he declared that Meldrick Taylor could not continue.

Many times, I have seen a fighter who is somewhat distracted after being knocked down and the referee has gotten hold of the fighter to demand his attention in order to determine if the fighter is able to continue. An important factor here is that the referee be calm and in control of himself. I recently watched the fight in question. Steele was not calm and objective. You can easily see that he is very excited and hyper.

I have read that Lou Duva had come onto the apron and was distracting Taylor - anyone ever see Duva get excited and out of control? The video that I saw is a closeup of Taylor and Steele - so, I can't be 100% certain that Duva was on the apron distracting Taylor but I wouldn't be surprised at all.

As I said, you can easily see that Steele is hyper and excited. Never did he get a hold of Taylor and demand his attention in order to determine if he was able to continue.

Was Meldrick so out of it that he couldn't continue? He seems distracted but physically able to continue.

The fact is the fight was officially stopped with 2 seconds left. There wasn't even enough time for the fighters to have engaged. A Taylor victory.

But, a hyper, excited referee, never made a calm assessment and declared the fight over. I am not saying Steele didn't have the best interest of Taylor in mind, I am saying he blew it. Look at the ending of the fight. Don't you agree that Steele was hyper and excited?

Chavez was Don King's fighter.

Steele knew where his bread was buttered.

granberry wrote:Chavez was Don King's fighter.

Steele knew where his bread was buttered.

End of subject.