Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 20, 1991 TAG: 9103200049
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS LENGTH: Medium
Call this one the "No Count" or the "What Fight?"
In the seventh round Monday night, Mike Tyson hit Donovan "Razor" Ruddock with six punches to the head that sent Ruddock reeling backward.
Ruddock didn't go down, but just before he reached the ropes, referee Richard Steele, his back to Ruddock, signaled the fight was over at 2:22 of the round.
"I said, `What?' and then the ring was full and I realized there was nothing I could do then," Ruddock said.
Tyson had his 40th victory in 41 fights and was a big step closer to a shot at regaining his world heavyweight title. Ruddock had his second defeat in 28 bouts and strong hints of a rematch.
The man in the middle - and in the spotlight - was Steele, who was escorted from the ring by security guards and later said he wasn't even sure how long the fight was scheduled for.
Steele had been criticized by Ruddock's camp before the fight for working too many recent bouts. Steele said in an interview with radio station WFAN in New York that he thought Monday's fight was scheduled for 10 rounds. It was scheduled for 12.
As bedlam broke out after his decision, Steele said he saw Deroy Ruddock, Razor's brother and manager, headed toward him, his eyes blazing with anger.
"I put a headlock on him and told him to calm down," Steele said Tuesday at a news conference.
Then other people were on Steele.
"I had a hand around my throat, then I was on the floor. I was kicked in the chest and leg.
"I did an honest job to the best of my ability. At the time I stopped the fight, Razor Ruddock was hurt and helpless against the ropes.
"What makes me happy is that the young man standing over there is OK," Steele said, pointing to Ruddock.
Ruddock still was not happy.
"He turned his back on me when he signaled the fight was over," Ruddock said. "When did you ever see a referee turn his back on a fighter when he was hurt?
"When you go into the ring, you know you're going to get hit. Wasn't he [Tyson] in trouble? Wasn't he wobbling in the sixth round?"
Tyson was dazed late in that round from several left hooks and right hands. It appeared the tide might be turning.
Until that point, Tyson was controlling the action. He knocked Ruddock down in the second and third rounds.
Videotapes showed that the second-round knockdown was not legitimate. Ruddock was hit on the shoulder as he was turning and fell.
There was no question about the third-round knockdown, the result of a left hook and a short right to the head. Ruddock got up at seven, and the bell rang a few seconds later.
Tyson, who skipped the news conference Tuesday, said after the fight that he felt a rematch was in order. But Ruddock wondered if Tyson would want to fight him again.
Because of the controversy and power punching of each man, the rematch has to be attractive to promoter Don King, who is seeking financial backers for King Vision, his pay-per-view television company, which made its debut with Monday night's card.
King said Tuesday, however, that Tyson's next fight would be June 8 against Renaldo Snipes, not nearly as attractive as a Tyson-Ruddock rematch.
Tyson's victory put him in position to challenge the winner of Evander Holyfield's title defense against George Foreman and regain the title he lost last year to James "Buster" Douglas.
King insists Tyson would fight Foreman but not Holyfield because Holyfield bypassed Tyson for his first defense.
Holyfield is promoted by Dan Duva, who has ties to TVKO, the Time-Warner Communications pay-per-view boxing operation.
In the other fights Monday night, Roberto Duran's bout was stopped after he doubled over in pain and turned away from Pat Lawlor in the seventh round; Julio Cesar Chavez stopped John Duplessis in the fourth round to retain his International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council junior welterweight titles; and Simon Brown stopped Maurice Blocker in the 10th round to retain his IBF welterweight title and win the WBC welterweight title.
by CNB