By Ryan Burton
This past December in an unprecedented move, the WBC ordered a unification bout between WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson and IBF/WBO/WBA champion Sergey Kovalev. The fight ultimately fell apart when Kovalev's promoter Main Events opted not to participate in the purse. There are several issues preventing the fight but Kovalev's new contract with HBO and Stevenson's affiliation with the PBC channels NBC, Showtime, CBS, SpikeTV, etc. are the biggest roadblocks.
Sulaiman confirmed that the fight is no longer being mandated but is hopeful that it may happen in the future.
Sulaiman revealed to BoxingScene.com the special circumstances that lead to ordering of the unification fight in the first place.
"We mandated and there was talk that they would be able to negotiate on voluntary terms. Now it is not a mandated fight. It was done under good intentions. We tried to do it. The promoters tried to do it. We just couldn't work it out. There were some contractual issues but we just continue to try to make the big fights.
"During the convention we took the rules up to the greatest extent. Stevenson had to win in December and Kovalev had to fight Pascal and then we knew he had an IBF mandatory so we also said he had to comply with the IBF. We didn't want to hurt any third party.
"Then we said it would be a 50-50 split. Everything was voted in favor. We tried to secure the fight but it didn't happen. Hopefully there paths will meet again in the near future and we will try again,"Sulaiman stated.
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