By Keith Idec
Kathy Duva knows American fight fans mostly are unfamiliar with Nadjib Mohammedi.
Sergey Kovalev’s promoter is sure, though, that viewers still will tune in to watch their fight Saturday night on HBO. After beating Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal in back-to-back higher-profile fights, the heavily favored Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs) will make a mandatory defense of the Russian knockout artist’s IBF light heavyweight title against France’s Mohammedi (37-3, 23 KOs) at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas (HBO; 10 p.m. ET/PT).
“It’s the same thing that made people wanna watch Mike Tyson,” Duva, CEO of Main Events, said. “It’s the same thing that makes them wanna watch Golovkin. People love knockout punchers. I think that’s the thing that gets people’s blood going. That’s what makes people excited.
“This is a blood sport. There’s something very primal about it. That is part of its appeal. To say that it’s not is ridiculous. So Sergey brings all that. This is the best way to put it – Sergey is a bad, bad man. I mean that in a very positive way. He’s got that edge to him. He’s got that danger to him. That’s what people wanna see. That’s what makes it exciting. That’s certainly why I get excited when I watch him fight.”
HBO’s doubleheader will begin Saturday night with a 10-round light heavyweight bout between Quebec’s Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs, 1 NC) and Cuban Yunieski Gonzalez (16-0, 12 KOs).
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.