Kovalev's Promoter Details How Chilemba/Russia Deal Came About

By Jake Donovan

It’s a homecoming that has been at least a year in the making for Sergey Kovalev, who will defend his slew of light heavyweight titles versus Isaac Chilemba on July 11 in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Efforts were previously for the unbeaten knockout artist to fight at home for the first time since Dec. ’11, but required a lot of moving parts to fall in place all at once.

With that, Main Events – through a combination of hard work and the proper resources at its disposal – managed to land upon a perfect storm of events to move forward with plans in place. Not only was the plan for a Kovalev homecoming, but also to provide him with a proper test to prepare for a planned November 19 HBO Pay-Per-View headliner versus Andre Ward.

The contracts in place for Kovalev-Ward call for each boxers to be granted a maximum of two optional fights before their head-on collision. Both have banked one fight each, with Kovalev destroying Jean Pascal in their rematch this past January, while Ward outboxed previously unbeaten Sullivan Barrera (also promoted by Main Events) over 12 rounds this past March.

An extension was granted for a second optional fight to take place beyond the originally imposed June deadline. The concession allows both to enjoy three fights in 2016, a rate of activity Kovalev has always preferred but missed out on as his team watched plans fall through for a Russia homecoming last fall, leaving him with just two fights in 2015.

There are few in the sport that can mimic the style of Ward, long regarded as one of the best boxers in the game whose only hindrance has been his own inactivity. So, the challenge became finding a credible opponent who will to (attempt to) frustrate Kovalev long enough to force him to adapt to a crafty style.

As it turned out, that proved to be the easier part – a rarity as finding willing opponents for Kovalev has historically proven to be a tall order.

"I believe Jolene (Mizzone, matchmaker and vice president of operations for Main Events) called Isaac on Monday and his team responded on Tuesday,” Main Events CEO Kathy Duva explained during a recent media conference call. “After the usual back and forth with minor details, the contract was signed and returned to us by Friday. Isaac very much wanted his title shot. He did everything we ever asked him to do.

“We tried to get him the WBC title shot, and he came up short (versus Eleider Alvarez last November) in a fight many felt he deserved to win. Our feeling that Isaac was deserving and the perfect fight for Sergey, (who) needs to fight a boxer to prepare for Ward. Isaac is a tremendous boxer. If you look at the way he took apart [Vasily] Lepikhin (last March), it was surgical the way he did it. I am fortunate that we have two fighters who wanted the biggest challenge they could get at that moment. It made my job so easy.”

It was a no-brainer as far as Chilemba (24-3-2, 10KOs) was concerned. The veteran hard-luck contender from South Africa – who turns 29 in May – was in search for a top-shelf opportunity from the moment his road trip to Canada ended in despair following the disputed loss to Alvarez.

“I was disappointed after my fight with Alvarez,” noted Chilemba. “When I got the call that this fight was offered you can't believe the joy that came over me. I knew I would get another chance to fight a tough opponent. I have been praying hard and I thank God that I finally got the opportunity.”

From there came what was believed to be the more difficult task – securing a venue and the financial backing for such an event.

It remains unclear as to whether HBO will be able to make the road trip for the event, which takes place on a Monday. The event will air in primetime in Russia, but the time difference places the same show early afternoon stateside, a time frame with which HBO has never worked in its 43 years of providing boxing content.

That part is still being worked out. In the meantime, the financial resources are in place for Kovalev and Main Events to proceed as scheduled. Anything positive development that comes along between now and fight night will be considered a welcomed addition.

“It was hard to find the right partners in Russia to make this fight happen. Once we found them everything else fell together smoothly,” Duva revealed. Honestly, it’s been a dream. This was a rare occurrence where once we had all the pieces in place it came together easily.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Follow him on his shiny new Twitter account: @JakeNDaBox_v2