A newfound appreciation of the body punching skills of Andrew Golota

[Robbie Barrett]

The photo I am showing is the blow in the sequence after which Kovalev bent in pain but the ref said to keep on fighting. That right counter with the boot dew and all other good punches from Ward came 30 seconds after that lowblow shot in the pic.

Here is a gif of the counter right though. Where is the booty dew?

Looks like he's trying to do some line dancing.

[eco1]

Golota could have been the best ever, but refs didn't have as much appreciation for body work those days. He'd be ruling the division now. You give him the same leeway as Ward, and he could definitely work with that.

I think Golota should come out of retirement and become undisputed HW champ.

His body work is the best in today's standards!

[Vlad_]

Looks like he's trying to do some line dancing.

It does look funny because his legs are cutoff above the knees in that frame, but from a full angle it is clear he is regaining his balance.

[uppercut510]

It does look funny because his legs are cutoff above the knees in that frame, but from a full angle it is clear he is regaining his balance.

lmaooooooooooo!!!!!

[HarvardBlue]

A lot of the low blows Golota landed in both fights were roughly equivalent to what Ward got away with at the end. Golota took it to the next, next level, but we are talking about degrees of a foul at that point.

Look, halfway through that 8th round when Kov was stumbled, I was ready to give Ward all the credit in the world if he managed to finish Kovalev. I thought there was some questionable/borderline bodywork being done on occasion during the fight, but not of the magnitude of casting shade on the performance (and Kovalev was doing some borderline stuff as well). That last flurry of 3 hard, undeniably low blows that prompted the stoppage just does not work for me.

Weeks should have given a warning, and Kovalev likely would have taken the full 5 minute breather (annoying, but those are the rules), and the fight could have had a conclusion that wasn't tainted by controversy. I'm not the kind to delude myself. When it is time to take an L and I am mistaken, I do it. That stoppage was bad, and those blows were LOW.

I can flip it around and say, I can understand why people who love Ward stopping Kovalev don't want to hear about the fact that the stoppage was prompted by 3 low blows. That is an inconvenient truth that too many people want to gloss over.

I can take a Ward win, by the way. I like the guy. Probably one of the nicest guys in boxing, although I'm not a big fan of some of his tactics. I just don't think the way it went down was right.

Good post but you completely missed the reason the fight was stopped. Everyone is laser focused on the 3 blows at the end of the fight but there is a whole sequence of events that happened before. Everyone saw (or should have seen) Kovalev get wobbled by the devastating right. Everyone including the referee! From that moment he has the best seat in the house to observe the two fighters. He's seeing Kovalev taking a lot of punches. Kovalev is trying to fight back but isn't fully recovered. Then he bends at waiste and take 3 flush shots to the body. Is it a possibility that he missed the low blows because he was focused on Kovalev's welfare? Could it also be a possibility that he saw the punches as low but is still worried about Kovalev taking unnecessary damage. Kovalev is hurt and not even trying to defend himself. Even if Kovalev is fouled, it's pretty odd for him to stay in that position without even attempting to fight back. In the refs mind, which is more important, admonishing low blows he may or may not have seen or making sure Kovalev doesn't take any unnecessary damage? Ward has free range to land any punch he wanted. Luckily he went for the body and not the head. Weeks decision to stop the fight doesn't appear to have anything to do with low blows but he saw a hurt, defenseless fighter taking punches and chose safety first.

[The Hammer]

If Ward's TKO win stands, Golota should have those DQ losses changed to TKOS.

[Mukuro]

Good post but you completely missed the reason the fight was stopped. Everyone is laser focused on the 3 blows at the end of the fight but there is a whole sequence of events that happened before. Everyone saw (or should have seen) Kovalev get wobbled by the devastating right. Everyone including the referee! From that moment he has the best seat in the house to observe the two fighters. He's seeing Kovalev taking a lot of punches. Kovalev is trying to fight back but isn't fully recovered. Then he bends at waiste and take 3 flush shots to the body. Is it a possibility that he missed the low blows because he was focused on Kovalev's welfare? Could it also be a possibility that he saw the punches as low but is still worried about Kovalev taking unnecessary damage. Kovalev is hurt and not even trying to defend himself. Even if Kovalev is fouled, it's pretty odd for him to stay in that position without even attempting to fight back. In the refs mind, which is more important, admonishing low blows he may or may not have seen or making sure Kovalev doesn't take any unnecessary damage? Ward has free range to land any punch he wanted. Luckily he went for the body and not the head. Weeks decision to stop the fight doesn't appear to have anything to do with low blows but he saw a hurt, defenseless fighter taking punches and chose safety first.

That's a fair point. Kovalev's manner of protesting low blows by bending over and waiting for something to happen was really foolish. He put himself in a dangerous spot where he was not defending himself or going down, and was forcing the ref's hand somewhat.

As to your point about the right hand, that of course has to be taken into account. Nevertheless, while Kovalev was visibly shaken by the punch, he was fighting back and it was not until the final flurry that the stopped defending himself.

I think that given the fact that that final flurry consisted of what were illegal blows (as demonstrated in the replays), it was not the right way for the fight to end, regardless of the fact that Ward was having a big round.

[HarvardBlue]

That's a fair point. Kovalev's manner of protesting low blows by bending over and waiting for something to happen was really foolish. He put himself in a dangerous spot where he was not defending himself or going down, and was forcing the ref's hand somewhat.

As to your point about the right hand, that of course has to be taken into account. Nevertheless, while Kovalev was visibly shaken by the punch, he was fighting back and it was not until the final flurry that the stopped defending himself.

I think that given the fact that that final flurry consisted of what were illegal blows (as demonstrated in the replays), it was not the right way for the fight to end, regardless of the fact that Ward was having a big round.

I agree the stoppage was unfortunate but under the circumstances a fighter not defending themselves is in more danger than a fighter simply taking low blows.

Good debate.

[CLICKS]

Golota was another Eastern Euro with no heart.

[The Time]

Body work skilllzzz yooooo.

Week's beltline standard yoooo:

LMAO..........Good one