by David P. Greisman
The basis for Main Events’ lawsuit against light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson was that it had a valid agreement for its 175-pound titleholder, Sergey Kovalev, to face Stevenson later in 2014.
That lawsuit was filed earlier this year. Kovalev and Bernard Hopkins have recently signed to face each other — leaving Stevenson without an anticipated bout with Hopkins and without Kovalev as well. Would it be possible for Stevenson to attempt to stop Kovalev-Hopkins by claiming he has, well, an agreement to face Kovalev?
“No,” said Pat English, attorney for Main Events. “Because he breached the contract.
“We didn’t seek specific performance. We sought damages,” English said. “Once a contract is breached, you can seek damages. He can’t come now back and say, ‘We’ve got a contract.’ ”
The alleged breach of contract came when Stevenson informed HBO executives in late March that he would not be fighting Andrzej Fonfara and then Kovalev on the network, according to English and Kathy Duva of Main Events.
Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated reported last week that “a byproduct of the Main Events/Golden Boy Promotions deal will be that Main Events will drop Golden Boy Promotions from the lawsuit it has filed against Stevenson.”
Golden Boy wasn’t the only defendant in the lawsuit, though. Following Kovalev’s win over Blake Caparello on Saturday, Duva was asked by a reporter whether the litigation would be withdrawn.
“We’ll talk about that with the lawyers on Monday,” she said. “We have to decide. We’ll see.”
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
