This Saturday on HBO, WBA/WBO/IBF light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev fights mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi in a fight fans can only see going one, destructive way.
For many fans the simple fact remains that the fight they want to see at 175 – and are being denied – is the unification with lineal champion and WBC belt holder Adonis Stevenson, a fight that due to his affiliation with elusive ‘advisor’ Al Haymon, is further away than ever.
Talking to ThaBoxingVoice, Kovalev’s promoter Kathy Duva has attempted to clarify the situation surrounding any possible Stevenson fight and the “changing boxing landscape” aka Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions brand, alongside what Duva calls his “anti-competitive tactics” (venue squatting etc) that she says have more than ably been cited in both the Golden Boy and Top Rank lawsuits filed against the shady ‘advisor’.
Speaking about any potential fight between Kovalev and Adonis, as well as their own HBO tie-in, she said;
“I’d like to hope that fight’s still on the horizon. The thing is when we asked for the (WBC) mandatory, the boxing landscape has (since) changed dramatically, and because of the shift in the landscape our alliance with HBO became so much more important than it had been before. The fact is HBO is the only company I can deal with, so we had to solidify our relationship with HBO once the landscape changed around January or February.”
“The fact is Sergey has 3 belts, we want the fight. I made an offer to Stevenson’s promoter Yvon Michel; 50/50, we’ll come to Canada – you can only bend over so much.”
“Adonis Stevenson is getting ready to celebrate his 38th birthday in September. If he wants to go down in history as the guy who ducked Sergey Kovalev, then he can – or they can come around the table and deal with us.”
Talking about the broadcast situation, and who would screen the bout should it ever happen, she said;
“It’s a PPV fight, but yes, Sergey has a contract with HBO. Again we made a decision after the boxing landscape changed, where we had nowhere else to go but HBO. We had no choice, it was the best move. And at some point in the future when the landscape changes again, Sergey’s gonna be sitting there with a guaranteed contract, and a lot of other guys aren’t going to be.”
And Duva isn’t worried that the Haymon situation will lead to potential opponents for her fighter drying up, given he has many of the guys at 175, including Stevenson and Artur Beterbiev under contract;
“At some point when Al Haymon runs out of money, those guys will become available again.” she said.
“I believe his (Haymon) tactics are anti-competitive and I think the Golden Boy and Top Rank lawsuits do a pretty good job of laying that out.”
I think you can read that as “Kovalev v Stevenson isn’t happening anytime soon!”
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
