Stevenson's Promoter Wants Hopkins, HBO Eyes Kovalev

By Edward Chaykovsky

Yvon Michel, the promoter of WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (22-1, 19 KOs), is trying his best to convince HBO to pick up a unification match with IBF champion Bernard Hopkins (53-6, 32 KOs), who at the end of October will make his mandatory defense against Karo Murat. The problem is that Hopkins is a partner of Golden Boy Promotions and HBO cut ties with Golden Boy earlier this year. Hopkins has been fighting on network rival Showtime.

"We're trying to sell this fight to HBO," said Michel to the Edmonton Sun. "We're convinced that this is a clash that would interest people and that would make history."

If Michel can't convince the network to book Stevenson against a Golden Boy boxer, then Stevenson's next HBO televised fight is sure to be against Tony Bellew (20-1, 12 KOs). HBO on the other hand would like to match Stevenson against WBO champion Sergey Kovalev (22-0, 20 KOs), who also fights on their network.