I totally agree, I watched those "low blows" quite a few times and they were ON the belt line. There was only one that I saw that "could've" been low and that one in particular, you couldn't really tell because Kovalev was bending over as you stated.
Yes that was a very good win over Dawson but I got to admit I feel that win was at least partially due to him being weight drained coming back down to 168. His career after that went down hill as a result.
I think he got blasted out by Stevenson because that's basically what Stevenson does. A rematch could've been different. After that and a layoff, Dawson went from six and seven figure purses to five figures, and I dont think he was getting up for that.
Ward Kovalev 1 was highway robbery. Ward was a great fighter though. Tough, disciplined broke his opponents rhythm. And yes dirty. Hard to defend all the head butts vs Kessler. But not as dirty as some other guys. 61 TOTAL SCORES POLLed by media Most reputable scorers had the fight Kovalev. 44 Scores for KOVALEV = 72% 16 Scores for WARD = 26% 1 Score for a DRAW = 1%