do illegal shots have to be taken into context?

[kafkod]

can i see these 3 low blows please

Larry's doing a Tony Weeks impression now

[Citizen Koba]

3 successive fouls are most likely done deliberately

You think? My interpretation was just that Ward had him hurt to the body so he was trying to finish him to the body. I never thought he was trying to go low, although he was likely aware that Kovalevs posture would make hard to tell reliably where his shots would land.

It's an interesting area of debate though - just how much room the ref should have for discretion. In this case I do think Weeks needed to call the low blow(s) if he was able to see it, but applying the same by the book interpretation of the rules to all illegal blows could result in fights that were almost unwatchable. There has to be some measure of refs discretion.

That said, whilst it might take some adjustment time a strict application of the rules to the letter with strict penalties might eventually result in cleaner, clearer fights with less mauling, grappling and 'vet' tactics. Whether that would result in more enjoyable fights or not is, of course, a matter of opinion.