By Edward Chaykovsky
IBF/WBO/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (27-0-1, 24KOs) wants to be very active, with at least four fights per year like his Eastern Euro counterpart Gennady Golovkin.
Kovalev's promoter, Kathy Duva of Main Events, wants to secure the biggest fights possible and hopes the fact that Kovalev is hold three world titles - that it might entice some of the notable names at super middleweight to move up by seven pounds to challenge her fighter.
Many of the top fighters in Kovalev's division are manager by Al Haymon, like Adonis Stevenson, Artur Beterbiev, Andrzej Fonfara and Eleider Alvarez. Kovalev has an exclusive contract with HBO and the network current does not have a business relationship with Haymon, who is now their competitor with his Premier Boxing Champions series which appears on multiple networks. That situation forces Duva to get creative with Kovalev's future.
"Sergey has told me he wants to fight four times a year, he just wants to keep fighting. So we are looking at doing a fight in Europe in the fall. It might be in Russia as he wants to be fighting at least twice a year in Russia or Europe. Again, I look down the road and I see potential for big fights in England with….Hey! I would love to make a fight with Carl Froch. I don’t know if that may be possible, I understand he may be retiring, but does a fighter like Carl Froch take a look at this and think, “I got a chance at winning three light heavyweight titles, is that worth it for me to take the chance?,” Duva told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
"You might have James DeGale moving up eventually. You know when you’ve conquered one weight division do you go into the next division when it’s so close. We are talking about seven pounds; we are not talking about the massive jump up between Cruiserweight and Light Heavyweight for example."