Stevenson's Promoter Explains Efforts To Make Kovalev Fight

By Jake Donovan

On the surface, the latest round of talks between World light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson and unbeaten, unified light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev ended in familiar fashion – no super fight to show for their efforts.

Had the two sides come to terms, such a fight would have served as the headliner of a third straight Pay-Per-View telecast in as many months. On the heels of Manny Pacqiuao facing Tim Bradley for a third time come April, and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez due to face an opponent to be determined on a May 7 HBO PPV telecast, a proposed Stevenson-Kovalev showdown would have topped an a la carte telecast in June, making for an expensive springtime for boxing fans.

Both camps were willing to go that route given the financial demands, but hit a wall when it came down to determining the manner in which it would be presented. The tone from Kovalev’s team suggests the strong likelihood of this being the last time such a matchup is negotiated.

Main Events CEO Kathy Duva informed krikya360.com’s Steve Kim that their side will now move on to a potential June appearance in Kovalev’s native Russia, assuming all goes well in his HBO-televised rematch with Jean Pascal this weekend in Montreal, Canada.

“We’re going to Russia,” Duva told krikya360.com on Wednesday. “We were planning to do that anyway when I went there last year, that was the plan.We are now in the position to do it and I have not been talking to the people we would work with in Russia about this till now but we were upfront that we had a contract out to someone, until they come back and tell me yes or no, I really can't start negotiating with somebody else.

“But I will now go to them after Saturday and we'll put it in place and it'll probably be in June.”

As for Stevenson’s side, it’s back to square one.

“This was the only fight that was on his mind, we weren’t even in discussion with anyone else,” Yvon Michel, Stevenson’s promoter informed krikya360.com during a phone interview Thursday morning. “Adonis had it in his mind that he was going to face Sergey Kovalev in June. So now we have to discuss other options.”

There is plenty of history between the two camps, as well as plenty of blame to assign as for why this fight has yet to take place. The two were on a collision course since 2013, when both won light heavyweight titles barely two months apart, each appearing on HBO for the first time.

Stevenson captured the lineal championship (as well as the WBC title) with a stirring one-punch first round knockout of Chad Dawson in June ’13. Kovalev rose to fame later that summer, icing previously unbeaten Nathan Cleverly in four one-sided rounds on the road in Cardiff, Wales.

Both fighters were placed on the same Nov. ’13 telecast, with designs of leading to a light heavyweight super fight the following year. Stevenson emerged victorious in the main event, successfully defending his title for the second time with a 6th round stoppage of Tony Bellew. In supporting capacity, Kovalev was frighteningly dominant in a 2nd round knockout of Ismayl Sillah.

Each fighter was granted the option of one more voluntary defense before moving towards talks for a head-on collision. Those plans became compromised when – shortly after Kovalev inked a new contract with HBO – Stevenson signed with adviser Al Haymon, whose fighters were deemed not welcome by the network brass in place at the time.

The move led to Stevenson walking across the street to Showtime, with any idea of the fight falling by the wayside. Main Events filed a lawsuit against Stevenson, Michel, Haymon, Golden Boy Promotions (specifically Richard Schaefer, who was still CEO at the time) and Showtime over allegations of fraud, breach of contract and tortious interference.

The implosion of Golden Boy Promotions – beginning with the forced resignation of Schaefer – led to the lawsuit being dropped by Main Events. Prompting the move was an agreed upon three-belt title unification bout between Kovalev and Bernard Hopkins, a managing partner at Golden Boy and at the time a unified titlist who functionally left behind a chance to face Stevenson on Showtime in favor of returning to HBO for the perceived-to-be more dangerous assignment versus Kovalev.

Talks of a Stevenson-Kovalev showdown ramped up in early 201t, in large part due to Main Events’ best efforts to pin the other side’s proverbial back against the wall. An unusual request was granted by the WBC to declare a March ’15 showdown between Pascal – its mandatory light heavyweight challenger at the time – and Kovalev – a three-belted titlist, none of which belonged to the WBC – as a final eliminator, with the winner ordered to face Stevenson later in the year,.

Kovalev won by 8th round knockout, while Stevenson would log a 12-round decision win over Sakio Bika in early April, the latter coming a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) event on CBS, a series founded by Haymon on the strength of a $450 million financial war chest. Just as it seemed all parties would get their wish, Stevenson’s side pulled a power play in requesting an immediate purse in lieu of a 30-day negotiation period.

The ordered fight came in contradiction with the agreement Main Events believed to have in place with the WBC, where a Stevenson-Kovalev fight would be called for after Kovalev satisfied his IBF mandatory title defense versus Nadjib Mohammedi. 

Because of the unexpected audible called, as well as the fact that Kovalev is contractually bound to HBO, Main Events – fearing that Michel (with Haymon’s financial backing) would win the purse bid and bring the fight to a Showtime or a PBC-affiliated network – opted out of the purse bid hearing, thus once again leaving the fight to die at the negotiating table.

The stipulation of Kovalev fighting on HBO was kept in mind by Stevenson’s side in the latest round of negotiations, though not even the willingness to compromise was enough to secure a deal.
 
“They came to us with a very fair deal, where the fight would take place in June and exclusively on HBO Pay-Per-View,” Michel pointed out, revealing that the fight would come at a premium as opposed to serving as a very strong HBO World Championship Boxing headliner. “My stable of fighters – Stevenson, Kevin Bizier, Eleider Alvarez, Oscar Rivas among others – all enjoy a good relationship with Showtime and of course with (the other networks on which PBC presents its events).

“As such, I approached Stephen Espinoza (executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports) with the proposal in hopes of submitting a fitting counter proposal. Mr. Espinoza mentioned there was already a template in place for Showtime and HBO to work together from last year’s sensational event with Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, and that there was no reason we couldn’t do the same here.”

Apparently there was a reason to not do the same, as it ultimately ended talks in the eyes of the other side. Duva’s insistence from the very beginning was that the fight must take place on HBO, given the network’s initial investment in both fighters and Kovalev’s current exclusive contract status.

“It’s silly, really,” Michel comments. “They now want to say that because Showtime has only featured Stevenson in two fights (three, counting his appearance on free-to-air CBS, as both are part of CBS Corporation), that they don’t deserve to be involved in this fight.

“That would be like me saying, GYM Promotions had Jean Pascal for most of his career. Therefore, Jean Bedard (Interbox) doesn’t deserve to be involved in his fights with Kovalev. It’s ridiculous. Jean and I had a good run together, but went our separate ways and Interbox is doing a wonderful job in its involvement with him. Showtime has been very good to Adonis and to my fighters. They were willing to partner with HBO to bring to the fans this terrific fight, but it wasn’t good enough.”

Although the two sides will once again go their separate ways, Michel refuses to assign a toe tag to the thought of such a fight.

“It’s a business decision made on their part and we fully respect it,” Michel insists. “My opinion is that as long as both are light heavyweight champions, there will always be hope for this fight to one day be made. Boxing fans deserve it, and it would be an injustice to claim the fight will never happen.”

With his thoughts squarely focused on a Kovalev showdown, Stevenson and his team will now discuss next steps. His next fight could come against unbeaten mandatory challenger Eleider Alvarez – although the fight isn’t due for another six months and with both promoted by GYM can easily be negotiated at any point. There have also been rumors of a possible rematch with Andrzej Fonfara, whom Stevenson outpointed in their May ’14 thriller, his first fight on Showtime.

For now, any such next fight remains a rumor until Michel and Stevenson are able to sit down and discuss any opponent other than Kovalev, which has been the only topic of conversation for the past several weeks. Troubling to their side is the fact that his long-time parallel rival has already mapped out his future.

“We understand that Sergey Kovalev wants to fight in Russia and also has a fight with Andre Ward waiting in the future (should Ward beat Sullivan Barrera, Kovalev’s mandatory challenger). So it seems like they have already moved on from the thought of fighting Adonis Stevenson.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox