Just rewatched the final round. And I'm gonna try and articulate according to crying Kovalev fanboy logic:
At around the 1:45 mark, Kovalev is bent over by three clean body shots. He tries to sell them as low blows and get a breater for about the third time in the fight. The ref says no it was clean. But because Ward let up, it allowes Kovalev about ten seconds to recover.
Kovalev came back and landed a couple jabs, which he did consistently throughout the fight. At about the 1:15 mark, times the jab and absolutely wrecks Kovalev with a counter right hand that has the Russian on ***** street.
Ward jumps him, lands a couple hooks to the head and 3 or 4 more savage body shots, making Kovalev visably grimace around the 1:00 mark.
Kovalev at that point is in full survival mode. Backs himself into a corner and smartly holds. Around the :45 Weeks breaks them. Ward lands another savage body shot on the belt that bends Kovalev over. He follows with two more that sailed low, mostly due to Kovalev being bent over. I mean, he's still allowed to throw body shots. Its not his fault his opponent is bent over not wanting to fight anymore.
Either way, according to crying Kovalev fanboys, the win is tainted because after Ward legally bent Kovalev over and let him off the hook. Then, timed him with a perfectly timed pillow fisted counter right hand that had Kovalev on ***** street. Then beat him up to the head and body for another minute. Then lands another savage body shot that bent Kovalev over and pretty much made him quit. But, because the final two finishing, when the outcome was no longer in doubt, sailed below the belt, the win is tainted. Please stop yourselves people.
Roy Jones Jr. saw it. Kov was gassed.Ward made adjustments with timing and body attack.Kov. complained about LBs, but Ward was getting hit behind the head,just like last fight.Ward is the type of fighter that's not gonna wait on refs. You foul me, I'll foul you back. One of the last punches looked borderline, but Kov was feeling it to the BODY,and was looking for a way out. I don't think there were any intentional LBs in this fight. I did think Weeks should've backed off and let Ward finish him, beat him into total submission,so this conversation abt LBs would've been moot. But I'm not the ref, Weeks might have saw Kov being defenseless and called the fight. I don't think a rematch is necessary. I do think Kov is making excuses to stay relevant as a Marquee fighter, and doesn't want his stock to drop in the game. But He showed really bad sportsmanship in this one. I wouldn't give him a redux just on principal.
I don't like the stoppage a little too early weeks should of let it continue a little more. But kovalev was ready to quit and go. And he was devastated not by the low blow but by that big shot and he was gassing out before that. I picked Ward to win by decision shocked he was able to hurt kovalev like that.
Have to give Andre ward credit. I thought it was a bad (and strange) stoppage. either way fight was going pretty much how I thought it would. Kova came out strong, ward took his time to feel him out and get into the fight, then ward adjusted and stepped on the gas and was in the process of taking over the fight. Strange how fight ended. Looked like kova was looking to get a breather by claiming low blow. Should of just fought on and fight wouldn't of ended as it did. Saying that ward did have him in a bad position where kova was clearly in trouble but still it was never a stoppage. Ward did what he had to do though, respect. Not his fault it ended like that. Ward undisputed p4pno1 now (if criteria used is: resume, longevity, skills, world title fights, acomplishments)
(My personal p4p criteria is a little different)
You can score a knockdown on the canvas or against the ropes. Ward scored a knockdown against the ropes. But where was the ten count? This was a felonious stoppage by an incompetant ref, simple as that.
Props to ANDRE, he's always shown to do better in rematches because homeboy does his homework, I'll watch the replay...but nothing but RESPECT ...and to everybody saying "lil G", please realize Golovkin is NOTHING like Kovalev in terms of style or boxing IQ...2 completely different fighters....may the best man win! Bring on Stevenson! Ward vs Stevenson is a GREAT match!
Ten seconds can mean the difference between a fighter fighting again and suffering permanent brain damage that prevents him from feeding himself. Kovalev was not going to come back and land a miracle punch. The Ref made the right decision to stop the fight.
Kov didn't even have nothing on his punches after the 5th.
Ward at that point had NO apprehension about walking straight in and mowing this clown down.
And most haters laughed and mocked when Ward and Virgil said they trained for the Ko.
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