No, he was not even defending himself, then got finished by legal shots to the body, it was going on like for a solid amount of time, he had lots of opportunity to show the ref he was still in it, and if Kov had it in him to have battled back, he would have.
He didn't. When Ward went upstairs, he finished the fight, the body shots (that were legal) at the end meant nothing, they only further illustrated Kov was already done to the ref.
Is was quite obvious Kovalev was wearing down, and likely to be stopped soon. That does nothing to negate the clear low blows. He indeed hit him with some hellacious body shots, real leveraged ones.
In the eight round he hit him, from what I have counted a couple times, with 1 left hand low on the hip, a headbutt to the groin, led head first right into Kovalev hitting Kovalev's face with his shoulder, quickly butted Kovalev again, moved his head in with a throwaway punch and knocked Kovalev straight in the mush with the top of his head, threw his head right into Kovalev's head, hits him with an easy (on camera, not to the ref) to spot low blow.
Immediately after the final low blow, he hits Kovalev with two borderline, but what I deem legal shots to the body. That's where Kovalev bends over. Nobody is going to deny that petitioning the ref is not the smartest idea, considering Ward will job keep swinging, obviously.
Then the huge right hand, and Ward swarms. They tie up, and Ward hits him with a questionably low blow. the the big liver shot, one of the best I have ever seen, and Kova was done. Another good body shot, another questionable one, more swarming shots, HUGE low blow, another huge low blow, third low blow that lifted Kovalev up at the waist, and that is it.
I've watched it like 10 times now, and gone frame by frame. That is a shitload of fouls in the span of 2 minutes. on the slow mo replays you can see where the punch reverberates, and the last 3 reverberations were in the groin area, none on the upper trunks, or on his uncovered body.
