Without the questionable stoppage

It looks really funny lol Conor is such a troll

 

I think it was gravitating toward a Ward win to be honest. Impossible to rule Kovalev out if he recovered but he looked pretty spent.

 

Who would have thought Ward would have survived after Round 2 in the first fight? If you stopped it when Ward ducked over in the ropes after the knockdown and wasn't throwing back...you could say, "good stoppage, he was going to lose anyway."

 

Let me add... after the controversy of the first fight, I would have preferred

Fair enough. I'm not sure Ward would have finished him that round, but I do think Ward would most likely had won.

 

The momentum had shifted Ward's way but Kovalev still looked fresher in the 8th of that fight than he'd looked in the previous fight. In the first fight he'd rallied strongly in the 10th and closed well. I'm edging towards Ward but there's really no telling how it could have gone had the ref not blown the stoppage. I mean, who would have put money on Joshua after Wlad knocked him down?

 

In the first fight, Ward spent the last 40 seconds of Round 2 in retreat, not throwing back, getting caught with the occasional punch. Even backing into the ropes and ducking forward below Kovalev's waist..which is the argument the detractors are using to say "Kovalev was finished"

It seems one guy was given the benefit of the doubt to survive, the other, the ref just couldn't wait to stop it..even if on a low blow.

 

Pascal hit Kovalev with real hard legit low blows and kovalev didn't bat an eyelid,

 

I honestly think he'd been low-blowed and had decided to ham it up for the ref to give a time out and miscalculated and got himself TKO'd. He should have returned the favour imho.

 

There's a very good chance Kov survives and returns the hurt to Ward in the next round. Also a good chance Kov never recovers, it's a 50/50 shot just like this match up was a toss up.

The better question is how much did those earlier low shots take out of Kov, and how much of a difference would it have made if the referee gave Ward a stern warning early on? That was the difference between the 2 in this fight. Kov was fully in the fight and winning in my eyes until the low blow in the 8th that led to the big overhand right that wobbled Kov. The HBO crew were fully biased and on wards side no matter what he did. All but Ledderman. I've never seen Jones so bad, and Kellerman pretty much yes sirred anything he said.

 

Ward was finding it difficult to breath through his nose and was desperate to end it.

Ward would have gassed and I don't think he would have taken Kovalev out in the next round. I think both would have taken a breather in the following round

 

Fighters are taught to "sell" the low blows so the ref will take notice. I'm not saying that is what happened, but I've never seen a fighter react as if they were hit low and stopped while on their feet.

We've seen Buchanan refuse to answer the bell and Zab Judah counted out, but never a "TKO" wave off in this situation.

 

Kov didn't sit on the rope until Weeks stepped in.

When Weeks moved in to stop it, it was a similar situation as Round 2. Ward on the ropes, moving his upper body and ultimately ducking below Kovalev's waist. The difference is Kovalev extended his arms to his sides to show he was not going to foul Ward while he was doubled over, where as Ward just blasted Kov in the nuts.