Was Ward illegally ducking low?

I've seen this topic on other forums.
I'm curious about what people think here?
Good thing I dvr'd the fight that way I could rewatch the majority of it.
I was kind of excited to see Ward doing so well. After reading some threads about the ducking I decided to rewatch with that in mind.
& it kind of seems like Ward was ducking alot throughout the fight. Ducking lower than Kessler's waist or at least at his waist line.
Every round.
It's the refs job to call that if it is illegal. But is it?

 

I was talking with a buddy and he just said "that's when you upper cut"...
But I don't think that's too valid of a response because 1st, if it's illegal it's illegal and the ref should be doing something about it. 2nd, it's hard to land anything meaningful (regarding an uppercut) if the opponent's head is already by your waist line.

If you try to punch down at the head it's going to be very hard to hit. And there's a big difference in punching straight or up to punching down. With the latter you won't have any chance to land much of a meaningful shot.

 

I was doing alitte fake sparring with my friend...
telling him to duck low, punch from that position and then come up to exchange in a clinch.
And damn... that's too hard to deal with.
Adapting is one thing when the guy is doing something legal, but how do you adapt to a guy that is ducking so low that you can't land anything significant?
This isn't like working with a double-ended bag.... because here you're punching down.

It was frustrating as hell, my friend would come in with a jab, whenever I would try to do anything he'd already be ducking and swaying like a pendulum. When he would come up into the clinch I could easily see how head clashes would occur.


I wanted Ward to win and picked him by UD. But this just isn't fair for Kessler. I wanted the Super Six to test the best fighters. But I'm sorry to say that Dirrell and Ward implement tactics that do not make this interesting at all. I'm a much better boxer than my friend, but by ducking, keeping me at a distance with a stiff arm (what Ward was also doing) and springing into a clinch made it too difficult to deal with. I've boxed since 1995.... he only started boxing since 2007.
These tactics aren't fair.

 

Plain and simple....
Ducking that low is illegal, Ward ducked low regularly and the ref did nothing about it.

If you guys think it's that easy to deal with an opponent ducking to your waist level then give it a shot yourself.