Ward still hurt him with a clean right hand and a bunch of hard body shots that you can not say were low. Let's say Ward did not land those last couple of punches. How can anyone think that Kovalev was going to win? He was tired. He was missing Ward all fight. Ward was clearly stronger tonight. Cmon now..
Kovalev was done. The way some people talk Kovalev was winning every round and got sledgehammered square on the nuts. Ward hurt him with a right and followed up with many legitimate shots, he had Kovalev backpedaling and he had nothing left.
Ward was making him miss everything...didnt they say 20% connect for Kovalev? Ward landed such clean jabs and clean punches straight to the head... What did Kovalev do before the last round that had anyone thinking he was going to win??
No, Kovalev, up until he got hit with the solid right was controlling the fight. Then Ward hit him with a low blow and then, when against the ropes, hit him with what appeared to be 3 low blows. This fight appeared to be fixed and the ref appeared to be in on it.
Kovalev will need to face reality at some point though. Now it will be low blows...but he knows the truth and will face it when he is away from others more.
This was basically what I saw, except that I thought that the first punch that hurt Kovalev to the body was on the belt rather than clearly low. Would need to see the punch again on replay. Based on the judging, however, it looked like it was going to be another good night for Ward. Right or wrong.
Kovalev fans...just face it...your mans psychology for his boxing game has met a decent match and he lost. It happens to most every fighter. He found someone who is also a bully psychologically inside of the ring but also more slippery defensively and with more dimensions.
The right to the head came after a low blow. The final shot was a low blow, a W cannot be awarded to Ward if they actually obey the rules of the sport. A real boxing fan should be gutted that we've had 2 fights, and are still no closer to finding a 'clear' winner....and now we have virtually no chance of a trilogy. It's a shame for the neutral.
I didn't see it that way. I would give Ward the nod if I thought the stoppage was legit. It wasn't. Kov had Ward backing up most of the fight, was catching him with solid jabs. Kov was solidly up in the fight by the time of the stoppage. Weeks should not have done what he did. He should have given Kov an eight count. If Ward had Kov in that much trouble, as some of his fans are saying, why not end it legitimately? I think Weeks was instructed to call the fight, given the opportunity, if he felt Ward was behind in the later rounds.
Ward would laugh it off and more than likely will to anyone that doubts the victory. I will do the same. I am comfortable with what I know about boxing and about people to know and to believe that Ward won. He was the better fighter. This will live on forever.
Fanboy cultures ruin boxing. Tonight i'd have loved to have seen any guy win in an epic GOAT match.....but instead guys like yourself want a guy to win any which was possible. That isn't a 'boxing fan'.
you know, the ref could have stopped the AJ-Klitschko fight in the 6th round and raised Wlad's hand, and you could say "AJ was gonna lose anyways, look at him" Let the fight play out. Enough with the hometown bias bull****.
The tide was turning for sure, but that is irrelevant to what happened. The last shot was clearly low and should have been called a foul and SK given five minutes. Would it have made any difference? Who knows. All I want are the rules and fairness upheld and tonight the rules and fairness weren't upheld.
na you're wrong. I'm actually not that big of a Ward fan either. I'm not a fanboy of anyone. I watch it for the entertainment and the story that matches tell mentally and psychologically in there