By Steve Kim
After Sergey Kovalev's July 25th stoppage of Nadjib Mohemmedi, there was talk of staging a card in Russia for 'the Krusher', who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO light heavyweight titles. Kathy Duva, the head of Main Events made a summer visit to Kovalev's home country and was hopeful that a deal could be struck. The proposed date was November 28th
But multiple sources have informed BoxingScene.com that those plans have been scrapped and that Kovalev will sit out the rest of the year and return in the spring of 2016 with a focus on making a bout with Andre Ward at some point next year.
It's not clear who Kovalev (28-0-1, 25KOs) would face first but Jean Pascal - who was knocked out by Kovalev this past March in Montreal - does have a rematch clause that he can enforce.
As for Ward, there is talk of him appearing on the Miguel Cotto-Saul Alvarez pay-per-view undercard on November 21st at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. There is speculation that HBO would help finance this in return for a commitment of facing Kovalev in the near future.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com
