Bad timing

Admittedly, just like everyone, I was surprised when referee Thomas Taylor stepped in to stop the Oscar Collazo versus Jayson Vayson world title fight over the weekend in Indio, California.

At the time of Taylor’s intervention, Vayson was still fighting back and didn’t appear to be in trouble of getting knocked down.

He wasn’t even hurt and reeling from a heavy blow from the aggressive Puerto Rican southpaw.

Apparently, it wasn’t Taylor’s idea to intervene.

It was Vayson’s corner — made up of chief trainer Jayson Vayson, manager Brico Santig and assistant trainer Carlos Costa -- that told the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) to order the stoppage.

The CSAC chief later told his staff that “it was a good stoppage.”

But I wanted to get the opinion of Taylor so I waited for him to emerge from a function room.

Fortunately, I got to speak to him and Taylor, who was the third man on the ring during the celebrated clash between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford in Las Vegas, defenses the stoppage.

“It was a little weird. But in between the start of the round, the rest period, I went to his corner ‘cause I saw that he was taking additional shots, looked like he was getting a little discouraged,” said Taylor, who was also the referee when Manny Pacquiao challenged Mario Barrios last July.

“And I just told the cornerman, ‘Hey, you know your fighter better than anybody. How is he lookin’? He talked to his fighter and he said we are good to go and we start the next round. And then the corner ends up stopping the fight.”

“And for me, the corner knows their fighter better than anybody, including the referee. Of course, they know him better than I do so I won’t never second-guess a corner wanting to stop a fight.”

Looking back, there were tell-tale signs that Collazo was taking charge after storming back right after getting beat up in the fourth canto.

In the sixth, Collazo was also in command and in the seventh, was in control just before Taylor pulled the plug.

The only thing that bothered me was the timing.

If you’re a hardcore fight fan, you’d really think it was not the proper time.

Obviously, Vayson was not on the verge of getting floored and with three world title belts on the line, you’d think he’s be given leeway.

Besides, Vayson was never in danger at any time and was in fact on the verge of an upset win in the fourth.

But one thing was very clear, though.

Vayson was fading and it was a matter of time before he probably decides to quit due to exhaustion.

Was the timing of the stoppage, right?

Definitely not.