By Steve Kim

So now that WBC light heavyweight titlist Adonis Stevenson has gotten Sakio Bika out of the way - what's next?

According to his promoter, Yvon Michel of GYM, they will now move forward to make a bout with Sergey Kovalev - who in addition to owning the IBF, WBA and WBO belts - is also the WBC mandatory after stopping Jean Pascal in eight rounds back on March 21st in Montreal. The WBC has called for an April 17th purse bid between the two parties.

"We are ready to go to Mexico City for the purse bid. We were not out there at the (WBC) convention when Kathy Duva, Main Events...went there to request to have the winner of Kovalev-Pascal be the mandatory contender for Stevenson and requesting at the same time a split of 50-50 be required if we ever had to go to a purse bid," Michel told krikya360.com.

"At the time nobody had consulted us or asked us what we thought about that. We were in Quebec City getting ready for the Dmitry Sukhotsky fight with Adonis. So we were informed after the fact that the WBC had voted in favor of that proposal. We felt that it was odd that nobody had told us but I mentioned to the president( Mauricio Sulaiman) that it was our goal anyways to find a way to fight against Kovalev and that it was a smart move now for Main Events to make that request and we were going to go along with it."

But at that juncture, both Stevenson and Kovalev had impending fights just a few weeks apart, which they both eventually won. Now it clears the stage for some interesting chess moves given that the two sides have competing alliances that don't intersect. Stevenson is with Al Haymon and the PBC, while Kovalev is aligned with HBO.

"As soon as the Pascal fight was out and it was confirmed that the number one contender was Kovalev, I sent a letter to the WBC stating that considering our past experience together and our different associations that it was going to be unlikely that we're going to come to a negotiated agreement,"said Michel.

Last year, a fight between the two seemed destined to meet before Stevenson signed with Haymon and was taken to Showtime's airwaves, which brought a lawsuit from Main Events, which was later dropped as Kovalev was able to secure a fight with Bernard Hopkins.

Michel continued - "So in order to have necessary time to prepare a good promotion and to maximize revenue, maximize marketing and publicity, we requested to have a purse bid as soon as possible. And the reply was that they agreed with it and they decided to hold it on April 17th knowing that we had to do a fight with Bika and we also know that they have to do a fight with (Nadjib) Mohemmedi but that doesn't stop both parties from April 17th, who will be the lead promoter to do the fight.

They make it clear, if they lose the purse bid they are prepared to have this fight take place on HBO.

"We have already confirmed that if we lose the purse bid - that [fight] will go at a date, the place and with the network that they will inform us off," said Michel.

Steve Kim is the news editor for krikya360.com.