Was Ward Kovalev II a bad stopage?

[PUO3]

Does anybody really believe Kovalev was in serious danger there, by boxing standards? It's a dangerous sport, but he was not in a scary situation at all. He had taken very little punishment in that fight. I think people are exaggerating the dire straits that Kovalev was in to excuse the bad stoppage.

Kov was gassed and hurt. But that happens all the time in boxing, it does not mean you stop the fight, you let it play out unless there is serious danger.

How much more serious does it get other than taking a nap? He was buckled and literally running away or trying to hold on for dear life for over half a minute. He was getting battered and you could see the reaction in his face. (Im not knocking him for that, dude took the best shots Ward could throw, and a fucking lot of them.)

Ward fan or not he was in a bad situation and wanted out of it. I think if Weeks let Ward keep dishing it out people would be bitching about him letting it go too long.

 

[wilddeuces]

I think you're missing what Roy meant by that... It wasn't a foul to being with it just may have been lower than he liked it, and it wasnt called a low-blow, so fairplay is fairplay. So I hit you there too and get your attention and see if we want to continue down this road. It either regulates itself and you bring 'em up bit, maybe we stop and slap gloves in acknowledgement that we're gonna keep it clean (my bad, your bad, lets move on), or the ref is gonna step in an warn BOTH of us fighters. And THATS why you do it. It's called taking care of yourself in the ring when the ref doesn't do it. Foul or not, tactics should be met with equal tactics. Kovalev didn't have that kind of experience. Instead he whined...



It wasnt the punch that stopped the fight, it was Kovalev's reluctance to continue.....Ref's job is to keep it safe. If one guy isn't fighting and the other is going i for the kill, the fight is over, might as well stop it.
But again, did you pay attention to the adjustments the ref makes when the beltline is above the navel? Roy clearly explained the nuances of how refs make a change. Weeks was most likely referring to his mistake of not doing more about the close calls (like allowing both fighters to clearly understandand whether it was a warning or keep fighting. Then again what should he do? The onus was on Kovalev...you're either hurt becasue a guy hit you in the groin so you have to take a knee and use 15-0 minutes to recover, or you're just complaining and letting your ass get beat-up. If the ref does nothing then as a professional you should know the fight is still on and fight. He didn't an got called for haing nothing left and the fight was stopped. I highly doubt doubt Weeks second guessing his decision on whether they were low blows or not, it's more about how he could've managed the situation better.

And Paulie, brought up how a couple were low and should have been called, so let's pay attention to that with what Roy said. Now we see how bad the circumstances become. And the timing and placement of the punch, man. Right deep down there. That's what is irksome to people that said letting it play out was for the best and one can't argue that. It was contentious enough of a punch and the timing for the stoppage exacerbated things. So contentious, by the way, that so many people are writing in so many threads about it. Paulie, a name you brought up, supports this assertion. Had that punch not been so low, their would have been an emphatic exclamation on a fun, exciting fight, instead of an question mark or an ellipsis. Weeks saying he should have let it continue was because he knew it was a bad hit to end the fight on. Kovalev not observably defending himself is overlooked because people are arguing that he shouldn't have to defend against low blows. And the shot strayed, let's not pretend it was a clean enough strike to avoid all these threads about it. And let's not pretend that a punch that low would 100% not hurt his dick. Nobody is saying that was a clean body punch, they are saying it was a contentious point to stop things (our conversation becomes proof of this, and thus, contributes to my point). It was a bad time to stop it, and that is powerfully true due to the nature of the blow (even if his belt line was lower, it would still be contentious, because it was low enough).

 

[Sir Punchalot]

Sherdog logic: if you have your opponent in trouble and he's probably losing the fight anyway, it's fully okay to finish him off with a punch to the nuts.

 

[spinitch]

Bad stoppage, don't they have replays? Can understand the initial call but to call a finish on someone with a low blow very unfortunate for the loser.

 

[Deleted member 196663]

 

[Shael]

I defended it in the pbp thread but if it's a yes or no question then I have to go with yes, the stoppage was bad stoppage. Kovalev was on his feet and it was the first time he'd been in trouble during the fight. Premature but Kovalev did himself no favors doubling over like that.

 

[BluntTrauma21]

'think that's been proven to be a fake account.

 

[Deleted member 196663]

'think that's been proven to be a fake account.

Do you have a link? I googled and didn't find anything definitive.

 

[nac386]

How much more serious does it get other than taking a nap? He was buckled and literally running away or trying to hold on for dear life for over half a minute. He was getting battered and you could see the reaction in his face. (Im not knocking him for that, dude took the best shots Ward could throw, and a fucking lot of them.)

Ward fan or not he was in a bad situation and wanted out of it. I think if Weeks let Ward keep dishing it out people would be bitching about him letting it go too long.

Call me cruel, but in a fight like that I want to see a guy truly unable to continue before it is called off. I know that's a rough thing to say, but boxing is a brutal sport. Kovalev threw a combination 4 seconds before the ref jumped in, he was not in critical condition, just hurt and gassed.

 

[PUO3]

Call me cruel, but in a fight like that I want to see a guy truly unable to continue before it is called off. I know that's a rough thing to say, but boxing is a brutal sport. Kovalev threw a combination 4 seconds before the ref jumped in, he was not in critical condition, just hurt and gassed.

Fair enough. I really think a large portion of those saying it was early would turn and say it was late had it been allowed to go further.

 

[Jim Reaper]

It was a bad stoppage but it was Kovalev's fault. By the time the one body shot that actually DID land low connected, Tony Weeks was already getting tired of Sergey acting like body shots were low from the two prior instances he hunched over and campaigned for a breather. If Weeks sincerely missed that one clear one, it would have just looked like Kovalev gave up from his perspective. Sergey could have saved himself by taking a knee.

It's a lot worse of a stoppage if you think of it as a "damage being inflicted" stoppage, but if you look at it more like a "no mas" stoppage it's not THAT terrible, assuming Weeks didn't catch the one shot that was low.

 

[nac386]

Fair enough. I really think a large portion of those saying it was early would turn and say it was late had it been allowed to go further.

That may be true, and a lot of them would also think it was a good stoppage if Kov was the one stopping Ward.

 

[Pugilistic]

As a fan, I wished the fight went on longer. I wish Kovalev took a knee or Weeks broke them off or something so we could've gotten a cleaner ending.
From Week's perspective, I think he did what he had to do.

 

[PUO3]

That may be true, and a lot of them would also think it was a good stoppage if Kov was the one stopping Ward.

Yep. I truly think Id feel the same. Sucks it went down with some controversy but I think Kova was done, I wouldnt want to see Ward take more punishment there either.

 

[aries]

How long does one need to run away stumbling and getting battered, after having their knees buckled, before you consider it "serious trouble"?

There was 34 seconds left in the round, in a championship level fight considering that Kov was mostly hurt to the body I'd have let it go. Mind you if I was the ref I'd have not been blind to the illegal body shots either and have taken a point from Ward plus given Kov a rest.

 

[Sunfish]

Wasn't it agbeko who got away with a billion nut shots? Or was it mares, iirc it was abner.

 

[PUO3]

There was 34 seconds left in the round, in a championship level fight considering that Kov was mostly hurt to the body I'd have let it go. Mind you if I was the ref I'd have not been blind to the illegal body shots either and have taken a point from Ward plus given Kov a rest.

Mostly hurt to the body? He got buckled with a right to the jaw that sent him running and stumbling.

 

[aries]

Mostly hurt to the body? He got buckled with a right to the jaw that sent him running and stumbling.

Yeah and the fight was stopped by illegal shots to the body whilst he was doubled over. The right to the jaw didn't do that. If he'd have been staggering around taking loads of unanswered head shots I could see your point.

 

[BEATINGu]

Looks clean to me. Goes right in under Kovalevs guard.

TKO now stands for Testicular KO when it comes to ward.

Dude, he was hitting Kovalev in the area between pubes and a bellybutton consistently. If that's not a low blow, what is?

 

[Sunfish]

TKO now stands for Testicular KO when it comes to ward.

Dude, he was hitting Kovalev in the area between pubes and a bellybutton consistently. If that's not a low blow, what is?

Ball shots.