Tweet
Doug Fischer | April 1, 2016
I'm sad to clarify the situation. Stevenson isn’t retired or in witness protection (although some fans claim that he is in order to hide from The Krusher). The lineal/WBC champ is promoted by Yvon Michel of GYM, the most prominent company in the Quebec region of Canada, and he’s advised by Al Haymon. I hate writing about the business/politics side of boxing. I view it as peripheral s__t, but the fact of matter is that it often dictates what happens or doesn’t happen in the sport these days.
Kovalev’s exclusive contract with HBO is the main obstacle preventing a deal from being reached with Stevenson. I know it’s frustrating for a longtime boxing fan to have to factor in promotional conflicts and network exclusivity every time he or she talks about potential matchups. Beyond the promotional impasse, there’s Ward’s contract with HBO, which (for the time being) has an adversarial relationship with Haymon. I’d love to see Ward challenge Stevenson in his next fight. If he won then took on Kovalev in his next bout the winner of that showdown would be THE RING/undisputed/unified champion at light heavyweight.
It hurts me to write this, but the age of “Cold Wars” between boxing’s power brokers is quickly making undisputed champions a thing of the past.
SOURCE: R*NG
Yvon Michel | Febuary 3, 2016
We got an offer; we made an offer. The offer that we made is exactly the same exact proposal except we require since it’s pay-per-view, Showtime HBO distribution, instead of just HBO, and the offer is still on the table as long as both are going to be champions. All of my guys, Artur Beterbiev, Elieder Alvarez, Oscar Rivas, Kevin Bizier, Lucian Bute who I do co-promote with Interbox, they all have fought on Showtime in the last 12 months. Same thing with Adonis, he fought twice on Showtime but also CBS, which is a parent company of Showtime. So it’s just that we are on that side, period. What he’s done with HBO in the past is irrelevant at this point and it’s not like someone is asking for a huge license fee. The proposal would be for a pay-per-view with HBO, which then HBO would not invest to do the fight by itself.
But Iike I said, our offer is still on the table, maybe if Kovalev’s going to fight in Russia in June, maybe a September date will be better. I know there are plans for Kovalev to fight Andre Ward but who knows what will happen from now. I really feel the two guys are destined to fight each other, Showtime made a move; hopefully HBO will too. It’s a fight Stevenson wants, I want too. I still have hope one day or another they will fight each other.
SOURCE: UNCLIVE
Stephen Espinosa | January 28, 2016
Both networks want the fight to happen. Each network has an attachment to their specific guy. We should let both networks bid on it; the highest bidder gets the fight. Showtime’s willing to take that risk. It’s in the best interests of the fighters and promoters. It maximizes the TV license money. Failing that, an easy way to solve it is a joint pay-per-view. There are multiple ways to solve this problem. It’s not that complicated. It’s the right fight for both guys, for the fans and the networks. Those in the sport should be doing all we can to make it happen.
SOURCE: LATIMES
Comment