No, REED's Position is PLEASE DON'T IGNORE OR ESCHEW What Preceded the Botched Ending to the Fight, Which is Exactly What it Seems Like YOU'RE Trying to Do... If You Can Acknowledge Ward INDEED Hit and Hurt Kovalev w/CLEAN Bodyshots, REED Finds it "Strange" You're Attempting to BURY Those Facts... REED
Exactly How often does a fight get stopped instantly from a body shot? Virgil Hill was rolling around in agony against Jones and the ref still didn't call it right there. Kov was just bent over and Weeks waved his hands.
That Shot was ON the Belt Line...Not Low @ All... It's the Shot REED's Been Referencing Since the Bout Ended... REED
To REED, Kovalev Sitting on the Bottom Rope was the SAME as a Knockdown... From There, it was On Weeks to Determine if he was "Knocked Down" by a Clean or Low Blow...From There, You Administer a Count OR Give Kovalev Time to Recover... REED can Agree w/Everyone Else that STOPPING the Fight was the Worst Possible Thing Weeks Could've Done... That Being Said, it's NOT Like Ward was Going to Mysteriously NEGLECT the Body, had the Fight Continued... REED
Guys. Stop obsessing about the end of the fight. Don't you realize prior to the end when Ward landed three successive low blows, he actually landed one that was arguably legal? And also a right hand that unlike the punches he landed at the end of the fight was definitely legal? Just focus on that part. Nevermind the end.
You're Also Conveniently Ignoring PERTINENT Facts Leading to the Outcome... Your Premise Suggests Kovalev was FINE, Never Hurt or Compromised in Any Way UNTIL Getting Hit Low and Stopped, Prematurely... TRUTH Is, Kovalev was Against the Ropes, Doubled Over and Defenseless PRIOR to the Low Blows and Premature Stoppage... REED
At the end of the fight, two judges had the fight for Andre Ward and the third for Sergey Kovalev. Judges Glenn Feldman and Dave Moretti had Ward winning 67-66 while Steve Weisfeld had Kovalev ahead 68-65. Andres Ferrari, ESPN Editor
I never suggested any of that. And i've always been strongly against the willingness of fans to say, "he would've won anyway." That is fucking bullshit.
Yeah, as I said before, I believe ward was on his way to a stoppage victory anyway....but I would have preferred he got it in a decisive way.
Well, then that's a shame for Ward because could could have been a legitimate victory for him is now controversial at best.
I must admit, though I thought Kovalev was up, it didn't look good for him down the stretch. He was clearly gassed AGAIN worse than the first fight. His stamina just isn't good. But the stoppage was still bullshit.
I'm watching round 8 again since Reed's take on the fight is from Andre's asshole. R8 starts out with a replay of a clear low blow from Round 7 with Roy saying, yeah, a little low, but Kov overreacted. Then on to R8 1:48 it's got to be a low left hook by Ward to the body. That's the start of the sequence that hurts Kovalev. 1:47 is Ward's follow up right. It is square on the belt. It's not low. The next one might be the big one and it's hard to tell. It's a left hook to the body that might be exactly on the belt again. It's at like 1:45 to go. I think the effect of the 3rd shot is magnified by the first one landing in about the same spot, but a little lower. If the big shot was low, it wasn't obviously so. I think it was right on the belt, but not sure.
Hey Reed, I hope you're doing well. I love reading your posts, you're one of my favorite here but what you wrote here is utter bullshit. That was a farce.
Respect as Always, ESK... The Stoppage ITSELF was Indeed Mishandled...The FINISHING Sequence of Shots were Low, the Shots that BEGAN Kovalev's Demise were Not... REED
To be a low blow or not to be a low blow: irrelevant. Don't be stopping a fight of this magnitude on a few body shots, legal or not.
My point is Kovalev was cheated. Not only that, Ward was cheated as well. Maybe Ward could've just stopped him but we'll never know. There was no ref unless it was to help Ward. There were low blows in prior rounds that bent Kovalev over and nothing form the ref. In my opinion the only reason Ward landed the big right hand in round 8 was due to the low blows prior that threw him off. There were legit body shots as well that hurt Kovalev and the big right hand really hurt him as well. But fuck, that was shit I fucking want to throw up. Ward actually won the fight with a combo to the nut sack. After some disgusting shit like that happens, it's sickening to discuss anything about the fight other than what a farce it was.
Kathy Duva said that Team Kovalev asked the commission for an instant replay review that got refused. Roc Nation paying the commission good for this BS.
Terrible stoppage, but I wonder if Kov was looking for a 5 minute break there? He wasn't nutted, just hit a bit low and he probably thought "sweet, here's my chance for 5 mins, look ref, owwwww!!"
Right, the Twig and Berries were NEVER Mishandled, but the Ending Salvo WAS Below the Belt Line... REED