HBO's Nelson on The New Pact With Sergey Kovalev
By Steve Kim
On Saturday afternoon at a press conference held inside a conference room at the LAX Westin Hotel, it was officially announced that light heavyweight kingpin, Sergey Kovalev, had entered into a new multi-fight agreement with HBO. It's clear that 'the Krusher' is one of the pillars of HBO's boxing franchise.
"He's grown so tremendously in both fan-base, viewership and I think we even see a maturation in skills between the (Bernard) Hopkins fight and the (Jean) Pascal fight, fighting those fighters at the elite level and delivering dominating performances. It's absolutely what the fans want to see," said HBO Sports V.P. of Programming, Peter Nelson, who was instrumental in bringing Kovalev to the network in the summer of 2013.
Since his initial appearance on HBO - where he bludgeoned Nathan Cleverly in four rounds to capture the WBO title - his last six bouts have been on this network. But with any network deal there are complications that come along with it. Presently, Adonis Stevenson is aligned with Al Haymon, making a bout between the two factions difficult - if not impossible - to make a reality.
Kathy Duva, the head of Main Events (which promotes Kovalev) has made it clear that a potential Kovalev-Stevenson bout could only take place on HBO.
Regardless, Kovalev/Main Events and HBO are now tied at the hip for the time being. This new deal starts with Kovalev's mandatory defense of his IBF title versus Nadjib Mohemmedi on July 25th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Expect Kovalev to be as active as Gennady Golovkin under this new deal that stretches into 2017.
"The goal is that fighters who want to fight frequently, have the ability to do that and that loyalty that's presented between the two parties enables greater planning. That being said, Mohemmedi is a real test in front of him and we look forward to a great fight on July 25th and we'll see what happens from there," said Nelson.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
