I'm A Fan Of Usyk But He Legitimately Got KO'ed

If Usyk doesn't fall and start grimacing I doubt the ref calls it low.

 

Any competent ref would tell DuBois to pick it up.

 

Initial impact was lower than the punch's final resting spot. The punch was sufficient to cause the trunks to move upward when it landed.

Fact is, even in the still used to support Dubois's case, there's enough of the glove resting on the trunks section for the official to call it low as per the rules posted by @JohnThomas1. And the punch landed lower than that.

 

This is the new TKO6 thread
Honestly think it might have been low according to the rules (not sure what half on the belt and half below counts as) but it wasn’t like he got hit in the balls. So if Usyk was genuinely hurt then it was a KO.

 

This controversy is a good example of why a fighters navel should be visible with trunks and protectors on.

 

I thought the shot was OK but if the ref starts to count then I think Usyk gets up. The result would have been the same.

It's a bit of a non issue for me

 

Just watched the Rummy's slowmo replay at 2:05 with 0.25x speed and it's the same as the screenshot. Clearly under the belt.

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The punch looked okay to me. Whether it was 'technically' a foul or not is of no matter now. Pabon made his call and that's that. (Although, it seemed to me that Pabon was acting on the reaction of Usyk, not the nature of the punch itself.)

Either way, at worst, it was a borderline case, and Usyk reacted like he had been shot. That should be a concern for him and his camp, while sending out a signal flare to the other contenders in the division.

 

What balls ?

 

sometimes,
Why do some refs repeat the instructions
Just before the fight for the final face off in the ring?

I prefer that as a fan anyway.

 

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Crawford vs Khan was a low shot that was called low; and the reason why it resulted in a stoppage was because Khan wasn't able to continue aftter the five minute rest. Not exactly the best example to use.

Kovalev vs Ward's final punch was clearly low, but Kovalev was already hurt and had taken a series of unanswered punches. Different circumstances, and even then a case could be made that Kovalev could have been given time to recover from that last low shot.

Anweay, at the point of impact, Usyk's trunks are below the belly botton, and then the trunks are moved up by the shot, which only partially connects with the beltline and partially connects on the trunks section. It's not super low, but I've seen shots get called low that have landed in the same general area (Mayweather vs McGregor, for example). Calling that shot was appropriate then, and it was appropriate in this case too.

Personally, if I'm Dubois's camp, I'm focusing less on the low blow and more on the fact that Pabon insisted on giving Usyk extra time to recover, since the rule itself stipulates that the official should be encouraging the fighter to continue as quickly as possible. Usyk stated he was ready a full minute beforehand and was given an extra minute's rest or so. That was more egregious than the low blow call itself, imo.