By Luke Furman

According to multiple sources in Russia and the Ukraine, negotiations are ongoing, and a deal is reportedly close, for WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1, 20KOs) to defend his title against Ismayl Sillakh (21-1, 17KOs) on November 30th on HBO.

Sillakh won several high level tournaments as an amateur. He was regarded as one of the most dangerous fighters at his weight until he was shockingly upset by Denis Grachev with an eight round TKO in April 2012. He was dominating Grachev for seven rounds and scored a knockdown in the third, but left himself wide open in the eight and took a big shot that he never recovered from. Sillakh was won four in a row since the upset loss.

Kovalev-Sillakh would be the HBO televised co-feature to Adonis Stevenson defending his WBC light heavyweight title against mandatory challenger Tony Bellew. Both fights will land in a yet to be determined venue in Quebec.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org