Loma Was the First and So Dar ONLY ONE to call out Bending at the Waist

[elfag]

Whitaker, mayweather and others use it a lot but Rigo spent the entire fight trying to sniff Loma's balls. Rigo was either sniffing Lomas balls or hugging him to death. Thats how he managed to only land 2.5 punches per round. pathetic.

[Vlad_]

What I was impressed with was how he dealt with it actually, more than the complaint. I've seen so many guys just hesitate and stop punching when Floyd or others did it because they don't have a legal target to hit, but Loma was prepared and he just let his hands go and was actually really accurate.

They looked like they had prepared for punching down on Rigo's head in camp, and it is something you need to practice because in general as a boxer you have no muscle memory throwing a punch in that manner, say like a UFC fighter might.

Even though the shots to the back of the head were illegal, it was absolutely the right thing to do, because it puts the referee in an awkward position, and deters the fighter from doing it as much. Great tactical awareness and boxing IQ displayed from the Lomachenko camp.

That is the most important bit for me. They should have mimic that bit there a lot in sparring. When you are facing boxers like Mayweather/Whittaker then you should. But i see them getting away with it time and time again.

But like you pointed out, its because as a young boxer it isn't ingrain in you.

Loma’s practice on the “tennis ball on a string” is most definitely what allowed him to accurately hit Rigo even when bending below ******* levels...
And all the morons claiming “rabbit punches” haha when the opponent totally breaks the rules and bends so low, go ahead and hit him from above.

[1hourRun]

What I was impressed with was how he dealt with it actually, more than the complaint. I've seen so many guys just hesitate and stop punching when Floyd or others did it because they don't have a legal target to hit, but Loma was prepared and he just let his hands go and was actually really accurate.

They looked like they had prepared for punching down on Rigo's head in camp, and it is something you need to practice because in general as a boxer you have no muscle memory throwing a punch in that manner, say like a UFC fighter might.

Even though the shots to the back of the head were illegal, it was absolutely the right thing to do, because it puts the referee in an awkward position, and deters the fighter from doing it as much. Great tactical awareness and boxing IQ displayed from the Lomachenko camp.

Although Rigo was breaking the rules his mistake would not of killed Lomachenko, but Loma actions could of had deadly consequence, as we seen it many times in this sport, recently Prichard Colon was nearly killed due to rabbit punching, you can argue that he should of died given his present state.

And just curious what type of punches could a cage fighter use when they are engaged in a stand up position, without hitting behind the head if your opponent is bent below the waist? I understand punching behind the head is also illegal in that sport -- I don't follow it : note I'm not talking about take downs or kicks.

[Doctor_Tenma]

It's nothing new, the only difference is that guys like Ward and especially Mayweather knew how to quickly transition out of it. Mayweather made sure to close the gap and place his left shoulder right on to his opponent's chest to work on the inside. In Rigondeaux's case it did not look good because he isn't an inside fighter but I suspect that size and age added to it.

[SplitSecond]

Mayweather use to do that a lot, but guys just stop throwing at him down there. Not sure why!

Mayweather doesn't sit their like Rigo does and did. Mayweather is either really close (which ends up a clinch/inside often times) or he nudges you into a distance which either way really doesn't give you much to work off whereas with Rigondeaux, he's just there and you've got your distance even if the openings are small for big shots (Donaire's problem) you can still touch him.

[SplitSecond]

It's nothing new, the only difference is that guys like Ward and especially Mayweather knew how to quickly transition out of it. Mayweather made sure to close the gap and place his left shoulder right on to his opponent's chest to work on the inside. In Rigondeaux's case it did not look good because he isn't an inside fighter but I suspect that size and age added to it.

Exactly. Mayweather will often nudge guys back too, like he did with Pacquiao a few times.

[Ray*]

Loma’s practice on the “tennis ball on a string” is most definitely what allowed him to accurately hit Rigo even when bending below ******* levels...
And all the morons claiming “rabbit punches” haha when the opponent totally breaks the rules and bends so low, go ahead and hit him from above.

If someone is going to bend that low for ages then thats their problem, they should continue throwing punches at them down there.

Mayweather doesn't sit their like Rigo does and did. Mayweather is either really close (which ends up a clinch) or he nudges you into a distance which either way really doesn't give you much to work off whereas with Rigondeaux, he's just there and you've got your distance even if the openings are small for big shots (Donaire's problem) you can still touch him.

Mayweather actually tuck his head in between his shoulders, thus preventing you from hitting him. But he still bends down low in his fights, but if his opponents are dumb enough not to throw at him then thats them.

[boliodogs]

That's true. Loma and his father were right on top of Rigo's tactics of bending down low and holding both of his opponent's arms to prevent getting hit. Loma did a good job of making sure these rules were enforced by complaining to the ref about these tactics. The ref did his job and warned and then took a point away from Rigo for excessive holding.

[sunny31]

It's nothing new, the only difference is that guys like Ward and especially Mayweather knew how to quickly transition out of it. Mayweather made sure to close the gap and place his left shoulder right on to his opponent's chest to work on the inside. In Rigondeaux's case it did not look good because he isn't an inside fighter but I suspect that size and age added to it.

Whilst it's true Floyd gave you different looks and mixed it up, I think all the fighters who fought him tried to hit him hard, or hit him with textbook boxing technique when he went down there, which just doesn't work. Loma just peppered Rigo and actually hammer fisted him at one stage just to deter it.

I have never seen anyone take that approach to it. If you look at Vlad's GIF it's actually a pretty good iteration of Kovalev trying to punch through the target and missing in a sequence where Ward goes low.

Floyd for sure though had more variety in his defensive technique, but I think my point is Loma might have found a good counter to it.

[soul_survivor]

Most American refs dont even know how to call a KD how they gonna know this rule?

This got me thinking, how different would Whitakers career have been if refs actually enforced this rule?