He turned his back and for some completely unknown reason, the referee gave him a standing 8 count. Should he have been stopped when he turned his back?
It’s at the ref’s discretion and in my opinion the ref made the right decision. Anytime a ref is uncertain of a fighter’s willingnes to continue they have the authority to ask the fighter if they want to continue or even give them a standing 8.
There was definitely a case for it being stopped as he looked ready to go, but with hindsight it was the right decision to let it go on.
I think a stoppage could have been justified, yeah. Pulev was pretty much fleeing in terror. Fights have been stopped for less. Ultimately, it seems good that the fight was allowed to continue. Pulev has a remarkable ability to recover and I'm glad we got to see it play out longer.
Yeah, I would have been fine with it. One really has to question the guy's fight IQ, he didn't even try to clinch once he was hurt and if he had taken a knee he would have taken not even half as much punishment.
People paid £24.99 to watch it on SKY in the UK. It's not worth one penny but I guess 9 rounds and a highlight reel KO at the end is not as bad as 3 rounds and wave it off with Pulev trying to run away.
Ref made the right call. I've seen fights stopped for less as some have pointed out, but they haven't exactly been examples of good reffing decisions.
It probably should have been stopped. However, Pulev was game from round 4 til halfway thru rnd 9. So in the big picture it was a good non-stoppage.
I'm a big fan of standing 8's as a way to get credit to the right kind of boxing, and still be fair to the hurt fighter's livelihood. I understand if he went that route, but I'm supportive of him not doing so and much prefer it this way.
