Stevenson Says Time Not Right For Kovalev Fight

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The HBO doubleheader scheduled for Saturday night clearly has been scheduled to intensify interest in what would be an intriguing unification bout between hard-hitting light heavyweight title-holders Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev.

Canada’s Stevenson (22-1, 19 KOs) will make a mandatory defense of his WBC 175-pound championship against England’s Tony Bellew (20-1-1, 12 KOs) in HBO’s main event from Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City. Russia’s Kovalev (22-0-1, 20 KOs), the WBO’s 175-pound champion, and Ukraine’s Ismayll Sillakh (21-1, 17 KOs) will square off in the first televised fight at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT.

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If Kovalev and Stevenson win Saturday night, Stevenson seems determined to fight someone other than Kovalev in his next fight. He would like to box Bernard Hopkins in what would be a bigger event in Montreal or Quebec City, the two cities where Hopkins fought Canada’s Jean Pascal. Even if a fight against the 48-year-old Hopkins doesn’t materialize, Stevenson, who has a growing fan base in Quebec, doesn’t think the time is quite right to battle Kovalev.

“I beat Chad Dawson, the light heavyweight champion, at light heavyweight,” Stevenson said. “Then I beat Tavoris Cloud, a former champion. Now I’m going to fight my mandatory. Who did [Kovalev] fight? He fought Nathan Cleverly. He needs to build his name and fight the former champions. I think it’s a good matchup, but I think he needs a couple more fights to build his name. Then after that, it will be a big matchup, me against Sergey Kovalev.”

The 30-year-old Kovalev floored Wales’ Cleverly (26-2, 12 KOs) twice on his way to winning the WBO light heavyweight championship by fourth-round technical knockout Aug. 17 in Cardiff, Wales. His impressive victory over Cleverly marked his HBO debut.

The 36-year-old Stevenson made an even more impressive HBO debut two months earlier, when the Haitian-born, Quebec-bred southpaw needed just one well-placed left hand and barely a minute to stop Dawson (31-3, 17 KOs, 2 NC) in the first round of their WBC championship match June 8 n Montreal. In his first title defense, Stevenson stopped Cloud (24-2, 19 KOs) following seven one-sided rounds Sept. 28 in Montreal.

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.

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Comments

Light_SpeedSun Dec 1, 2013, 4:59 AM UTC

too many fan boys on here - Sylakk lost 1 fight (he should not have lost it, but he lost focus and got caught) he was the most feared light heavy at the time - do not sleep on this fight ! People are crowning a cat that hasn't been past 8rds - like I've been saying, Kovalev's opponents have been doing what they are supposed to do, get hurt and go down, but when he faces a irish mike perez type of opponent(I always make that comparison because he was picked to lose - I hate the outcome - but he was chosen as a good undefeated record to add to the credibility of another record) Cats on here are searching for Mr. right or something - Sylakk might embarrass this cat or end up stopping him ! The black Russian is slick, can box his *** off / and has a decent punch himself. this will not be easy for Kovalev at all . I love Ismayl but I doubt he'll last that long. I've been following Ismayl for a long time, he's one of my favorite fighters but I think he'll get destroyed. He even got wobbled in his fight following his first defeat. He still has those same flaws (stationary upper body + low left hand) which Kovalev will probably take advantage of. Ismayl's management is either stupid or they wanna cash him out. The fighter is the one who ultimately accepts the fight. The black Russian should at the very least answer us some questions on Kovalev, to where fighters are going to step up or stay away. Movement will slow this dude down, then we will be able to check on his patience / composure - now if he catches Ismayl then he catches him, but at least Ismayl will not be a stationary robot / punching bag ! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Ismayl can take him deep at least, then we'll take it from there I told you he was gonna get destroyed, this was a stupid management decision from Ismayl's team. Didn't even give him some time to rebuild against semi-elite fighters before stepping into the ring against the most dangerous light heavyweight in the world.

apocalyptoFri Nov 29, 2013, 7:00 PM UTC

Really. Who are all these big names at 175. There's BHop who fights on SHO and the elusive Shumenov (who now also fights for GBP) who is not exactly a huge name. Of the makeable fights the only remaining 'names' at 175 are Bute and Pascal, and they're fighting each other. Stevenson and Kovalev will (assuming both win by KO) have already knocked out all the 'big names' at 175 so your argument makes little sense to me. Dawson, Campillo, Cloud, Cleverly, Bellew, White. Between them they have simply torn up the divisional rankings from the start of the year. FWIW I would be relatively comfortable having Sillakh near to or even in the top 10 H2H as well. I can see the argument for GYM wanting a Candian 'superfight' with the Bute - Pascal winner (maybe whilst Kovalev fights Fonfara in Chicago), but aside from that, who is there? Make it happen. Adonis vs bute/pascal winner and kovalev vs fonfora or Dawson.

TobiGFri Nov 29, 2013, 6:46 PM UTC

I hope Hopkins retires before he becomes a victim for Stevenson or Kovalev. I will say it now, i saw Hopkins vs. mediocre Karo Murat, this version of Hopkins would absolutely get FLATTENED!

BlackSnakeMambaThu Nov 28, 2013, 3:34 AM UTC

ward needs to fight kovalev.

umopapsdnThu Nov 28, 2013, 2:57 AM UTC

In a previous post I stated that it seems Stevenson wants no parts of Kovalev, but Adonis is actually talking some sense here. Kovalev is known to US boxing nuts on these forums because this is our fix. But Kovaleve is NOT a name at all and will not make for a big money fight now like he would in 1 - 3 years with some bigger names/fights under his belt. Right now it would be exciting but would you not rather wait till they were both at 30 fights with bigger buzzes? Right now we KNOW Adonis can hang with the BIG boys, now Kovalev has to prove he can do the same. There is a difference between a fighter saying "i wont fight him" and "i'll fight him when it makes more sense for us both" so I don't think Stevenson is scared or worried or any of the above. When they do meet though this match will be fireworks!

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Stevenson Says Time Not Right For Kovalev Fight

Pacheco’s Missing Weapon? “The Bud Light of Mbilli” Take & Why Canelo Has No Belts, No Limits

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