Could Kovalev go .500 against these 12 LHWs of Classic Past?

I don't really disagree with any of this, though I thought that Ward also got away with at least 2-3 low blows elsewhere in the fight, which contributed to things.

 

First of all it is disputable. I've seen several stills and slowmos and I can't really say. In the still posted in this thread it doesn't look low.

But if the last blow was indeed low and the ref managed to see it (which was hard because of Kovalev's doubled over position) so what? Should the ref warn Ward? Dock a point? If so he should have done so for every rabbit punch by Kovalev, and Kovalev would have been disqualified several rds prior. Would that have been optimal referring, you feel?

As I said this discussion is insane.

 

If every win where you can possibly claim an unclaimed foul should be deemed illegitimate you would hardly have legitimate win in boxing. We can start with FOTC. Joe landed several blows were part of the glow was beneath the belt line. He also used his head liberally. Next to go would be Montreal.

Actually there wouldn't be many left.

 

If you don't make a difference between marginal fouls that don't do any damage and clear fouls that clearly hurt the fighter receiving them, you either think Kovalev should have been disqualified for rabbit punches or you're a hypocrite.

 

At best Ward should have been docked a point and Kovalev given 5 mins to recover.

Failing that, Kovalev should have been given a chance to recover.

At worst, Kovalev should have been given a standing 8 count and the fight be allowed to continue.

Giving Ward the win off a foul is a travesty.

The ref should have warned Kovalev for the couple of rabbit punches he threw, imho. Referees allow far too much BS to slide these days.

 

I agree with all of this.

 

Standing 8 wasn't in the rules. It was either tko or 5 minutes. No other options.

 

So every time a punch perhaps lands a half inch low (from the photo posted it didn't low at all, actually) there should be a point docked and five minuter of rest? What a travesty boxing would become if that would be put into practice. If I'm bored enough I will count the amounts of points that should be docked and amounts of breaks by that practice in FOTC.

And of course such way of reffing should have already seen Kovalev disqualified for his probably over a dozen rabbit punches. Docked pts at first and then disqualified.

What a joke of a fight that would have been.

 

It should have been treated as a low blow, a foul.
Ward should have been warned, yes. A point deduction ? Maybe.
Kovalev should have been given time to recover.
These are standard rules.

Kovalev's fouls are irrelevant. If he'd landed a rabbit punch,hurt Ward, and the referee had dived in an awarded Kovalev the fight on TKO, then I'd be saying that's a bit off too !

 

No, we're talking about a fight being waved off on a foul (as the finishing blow), with the offender being awarded a TKO win.
That's totally NOT a common occurrence.

 

This.

 

No, because warnings and the points deductions are usually pretty good deterrents.
That's the whole point. The referee is supposed to keep order and get them to behave themselves.

 

I see Kovalev being criticized for complaining of belt line punches. He was selling them to be sure, but he was trying to bring attention to the shots straying low to prevent what happened in the final sequence. Almost all fighters complain or oversell a belt line punches for that reason.

Too much is being made of this anyway. I don't think this is a weakness of Kovalev, any fighter under those circumstances would be vulnerable to Ward's antics. The difference is other fighters might have hurt Ward bad with a foul to get him to stop at the risk of a DQ. Or some of the guys on this list are just a level above, Sam Langford would have probably knocked Ward into next week if he ducked down and tried to hit his balls.

 

It's actually weird for a boxer with the rep of Kovalev complaining to the ref instead of socking Ward back in the pills. That's what I would have done.

 

Hard to say what was on Kovalev's mind. We could say the same thing about Bowe against Golota, or any other fight. Sometimes guys just don't want to foul back.

Really, Kovalev was having trouble landing anything but a jab on Ward, so maybe reaching to try a low blow didn't seem like an option to him, hard to say.