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Richard Steele (born 1944) is a retired boxing referee who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. A former member of the United States Marine Corps, Steele was a teammate of future world Heavyweight champion Ken Norton in the Marines. He began his career as an amateur boxer while with the Marines, compiling a record of 12 wins and 3 losses before launching a professional career. He had 16 wins and 4 defeats as a professional fighter. Steele began referring fights in the 1970s, and he went on to referee in 167 world title fights around the world. In 1983, he refereed his first major fight, when Aaron Pryor knocked out Alexis Argüello in ten rounds in their rematch. Other fights Steele refereed included Mike Tyson's defeat of Donovan Ruddock in 1991,〔(Referee Steele not a stranger to controversy )〕 Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns' 1985 middleweight championship bout, Hagler's 1987 loss to Sugar Ray Leonard, and the first of two fights between Julio César Chávez and Meldrick Taylor.〔(Boxing: Notebook; Power Struggle to Control Chavez )〕 ==Controversial fights== Steele was sometimes involved in controversial decisions. In the fight between Tyson and Ruddock he officiated, Steele elected to stop the fight in the seventh round as Ruddock appeared to be hurt by several stiff shots by Tyson. This, however, was in contrast to how the fight had gone up until that point with both fighters going back and forth and Tyson being hurt by several of Ruddock's shots. Steele's decision caused a near riot in the crowd, who were all infuriated by the call, and he had to be escorted from the ring for his own protection. However, what is regarded as Steele's biggest controversy in his long career is the fight between Julio Cesar Chavez and Meldrick Taylor. Taylor had been winning the fight entering the twelfth and final round and was ahead by enough of a margin on all three judges' scorecards that it would have been impossible for Chavez to win except by knockout. Despite his large lead Taylor had been taking a great deal of punishment from Chavez the entire fight, however, and the undefeated Mexican champion knocked Taylor down with seventeen seconds left in the fight.〔 After Taylor got to his feet after a count of five, Steele asked him twice if he was okay to continue. After Taylor failed to respond, instead looking at his corner, Steele stopped the fight with two seconds remaining and Chavez was declared the victor by technical knockout. Although many fans criticized his decision, considering how much time was remaining in the fight, Steele defended the decision by saying that he was only protecting Taylor from further injury and that "no fight is worth a man's life". After the fight, Taylor was examined by ringside doctor Flip Homansky and found to have suffered a facial fracture and kidney damage so severe he was urinating pure blood. The decision was upheld after an appeal by Taylor's handlers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Richard Steele (referee)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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