Fighters: Decision Is Premature : Boxing: Ruddock, Tyson in accord on notion referee Richard Steele was hasty in stopping the bout in the seventh round.

Mike Tyson and Razor Ruddock finally agreed on something Monday night.

Both thought referee Richard Steele was hasty in stopping the fight and awarding the knockout to Tyson at 2:22 of the seventh round.

“He shouldn’t have stopped it then,” Tyson said. “But who am I to judge? I don’t think Ruddock would have lasted the round anyway.”

“We’re gladiators,” Ruddock said. “Let us fight.”

Instead, cornermen took up the fight after Steele had called a cease fire and created his second controversy in Nevada.

Last year, Steele stopped the Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor fight with only two seconds remaining in the 12th and final round.

That night Steele took a good look at Taylor’s battered face before making his decision.

This time, Ruddock was unmarked but on the ropes when Steele quickly intervened.

“The guy was hurt,” Steele said. “There was no need in counting him out. It is my job to stop him from being seriously hurt, and the next punch would have done that.”

Said Ruddock’s manager, Murad Muhammad: “We planned to protest. We’ll get a rematch or go to court. We’ll sue Steele. We’ll sue the Nevada commission.”

Muhammad later toned down his comments to a protest.

Muhammad’s fighter was calmer after shaking hands with Tyson.

“We’re the two best heavyweights in the world,” Ruddock said. “I can punch. He can punch.”

Ruddock, who has knocked out his last 10 opponents, displayed some of that power in the sixth round.

“He hits like a mule,” Tyson said. “Oh my God, he hits so hard, but my chin is like concrete.”

Ruddock, who had been floored in the second and third rounds, won the sixth on all scorecards.

It was also the only round he would win, but in it he had the crowd chanting “Razor, Razor.”

A couple of minutes later, most of the people were booing.

“This was the worst refereed fight I’ve ever seen,” Ruddock said. “I wasn’t even hurt, and he stopped the fight.

“Tyson fought the dirtiest fight of his life. Elbows, low blows, hitting after the bell. And what did Steele do? Nothing. That’s why we complained about this referee to the (Nevada State Athletic) Commission.”