Of course he did, Sergey was tired, gassing and close to being knocked out. That right hand was the beginning of the end. He slumped down and Ward accidentally hit a tad low (The last punch ONLY), Weeks was going to stop the fight anyhow. He stopped it at an inopportune time for Ward and the fans, that's all it was, which started the litany of excuses from the many Ward detractors! Kovalev was no longer intelligently defending himself, he wasn't throwing anything. Ward won that, fair and square.
The referee rob ward, Kov, and the fan with his clearly mistake interpretations of where the low blow line begin. It is not the same as the belt line, just because a punch touched the lower part of the belt line doesn't make it legal. That is a good 5 inches below the belly button.
Watch the fight in slow motion, then watch the still photo, SOB landed a very low punch and it has been proven. When will Golota get his title he won from Bowe?
You appear to be wrong. Have you seen what fans have been saying? Have you seen mayweathers response to weeks..Have you heard what most non Americans with no agendas feel about it !
Going into the 8th I had Kovalev up by 1, but Ward was coming back strong and I don't think Kovalev would of won another round on my card. Unless he caught a second wind, but that would of been unlikely imo with the way it was going. Kovalev was done.
Ward was the better man. He figured Kovalev out and was getting to him. That being said you shouldn't win a fight on a low blow. Khan shouldn't have beaten Judah like that and Duran shouldn't have beaten Ken like that. It doesn't detract from the performance until that point, this is his career best showing without doubt, but the fact remains Kovalev deserved upto 5 minutes to recover from the low blow.
Neither of them deserved the fight to end like that... Kovalev should of been given a count. In my mind the fight was only ending one way a ward win. The ref stopping the fight like that I think robbed ward of the decisive and definitive victory he was going to have. It also robbed Kov of the last few rounds to see if he could of recovered. For me, after a count ward either knocks him out in that round or the round after or wins a clear points victory. Its a shame but time to move on.
The only fans talking and crying are Kovs fans. Floyd has an opinion, nothing more. Many boxers came out and said that Ward won clean. It's just Kov's cry baby fans.