Well i just watched it, yes it was a weird stoppage & yes it was a low blow which pretty much finalized the deal & yes low blows are illegal hence one could say it was won (but only in part) in an illegal manner & via a premature stoppage too. On the other hand Kovalev was bent over to avoid punishment here. You're not allowed to punch to the back of the head, and Kovalev was bent with his arms covering his upper body which is why Ward had to go somewhat low. So you could say Kovalev too is bending the rules here... Ducking down so your opponent can't hit you because you're not allowed to hit the back of the head is somewhat of a ***** move. Stand up and fight like a man. This is the Krusher isn't it?? I thought Kovalev had 'dog' in him?! I thought he was 'street'?! Come on.. Blame must be accorded to Kovalev here for gassing AGAIN & allowing Ward to bully him in that manner. His team (JDJ) his promoter (Duva) & him are all complicit here.. He has bad stamina, a fairly lacklustre relationship (in comparison with others) with his trainer & a promoter who stated she would push for a neutral venue this time out only to go back to Vegas. It's clear to me that in the last round Ward caught him clean to the head and clean to the body. Kovalev was hurt/gassed and went to the corner, Ward then hits him below the belt. Kovalev was spent by then & was getting the better of Kovalev. I accept that he won and was probably on his way to turning the fight around, even being able to manage a win without giving Kovalev a vasectomy with his fists. Kovalev lost... & it's his own fault. I have no problem this time round. I cannot give the first fight to Ward & i do not admire his style but he won this time. Life goes on.. Kovalev should stop being a puff & start to re-adjust his situation. He can come again..
Yeah, that'll work with a biased referee won't it. A ref he complained to a few times about the low blows and was completely blown off. Kov's been known to do his rabbit punches, most boxers do them, even LL and Ali did them.
Lomachenko took took more low blows than Bowe ever did in only his second fight & came back strong. Krusher got crushed here. Sorry. Just being real.. They knew Ward had 'dirty' in him & should have prepared for it. Again a failure by team Kovalev..
On that i agree the ref effed up. Very iffy... Premature. Should have been a ten count but Kovalev was getting beat regardless.
Did not expect you to give Ward any credit. Kudos. Still think Weeks should have given Kovalev a count because he was sitting on the ropes. Oh well.
I think Ward was getting back into the fight, and Kov was gassing. Still, Ward resorted to hitting him in his dick, especially that one in the 7th round when he also had his forehead in Kov's face. The ref did nothing about that. He was bossing him around because he was using his head and dickshots to turn the tide.
You have a point, he should have immediately hit ward on the belt line hard after he felt the first one, thats the only way. Wards ref would have probable warned him straight away though!! No doubt But yeah kovalev did not fight a smart fight and would have probably lost if the fight went on, even if he was given his timeout from the low blows
