Duva: "Kovalev has more fans in Canada than Stevenson, they don't like Adonis"

Kathy Duva declares next big thing in Kovalev, sees true world champion Duva says a venue for a projected fight with Stevenson wouldnt be an issue and had no problem going to Stevensons home region: To tell the truth, if that fight happened now in Canada, Sergey would have more fans than Stevenson. The fans dont like , they come to watch him lose. Cultivating new markets is also part of Duvas job. Sergey is that guy who can make anyone be his fan, she explained. I was inundated by people after the fight. At the bar at the hotel, Canadians came up to me and said, Hes my favorite fighter now. We're going to see him wherever he fights and we want to see him here again. Hes going to become a big fan-favorite up there. We want to keep going back to Quebec because its such a wonderful market, theyre crazy for fights. Its a five, six hour drive from where we live; its not that far away. I have a great relationship with Jean Bedard, the president from Interbox; we love working together, our staff love working together. So were talking about doing fights together irrespective of Sergey fighting there. Id be very happy to go there and fight there. Duva clearly believes in her horse and is keen to back him to the hilt. I think Sergey is on his way to becoming the next big thing, she said. I think this guy is going to be able to fight in a lot of different places. We also intend to bring him back to Atlantic City in the foreseeable future. Eventually we're going to go to Russia. There has been some small interest from Asia. I had an inquiry from South Africa. We want to be a true world champion and travel all around the world. I think at some point when he gets to bigger and bigger fights, you're going to go to Las Vegas because that's where the real money is. You can make a lot more money at the gate there than you can anywhere else because you get the casino support. Ultimately our goal is to go there with him. http://******.craveonline.com/news/384051-kathy-duva-names-next-big-thing-in-kovalev-sees-true-world-champion

Comments (20)

lol, why the hell would Berto-Lopez be in Canada. honest mistake i guess

11y ago

Elblanco

Hey guys - aurora Ontario here. The gauze regulations allow only 10 yards in Ontario where fighters in other jurisdicitons routinely use 40 or more yards. The guys don't want to fight here because of potential hand damage. I did catch bahoeli vs carman for the crappy Canadian hvywt championship (what a barn burner) those guys didn't seem to mind, but I guess once you're fighting for money instead of peanuts the game changes. Ya , absolutely ridiculous that they couldn't work around that issue here. Tornto likes to sabotage everything. hahah thats crazy man, small world we live in. but damn now i see why there arent big money fights in toronto, who the **** wants to fight with 1/4 of the gauze you normally do??? that basically crushed my dreams of a canadian fighter having super fights in the rogers centre, gsp did it and the gate was 15 mill! Ya never happening bro. I went to, what I think was, the last big boxing event in ontario about 14 years ago at casino rama. It had acelino freitas and Harry Simon on the card and was televised by showtime. Don't think we've had names like that since.

11y ago

PEsco

That was Ontario, California LOOOOOL, i fked up baad. that might explain why i heard nothing about the fight here.... i have no idea why but i didnt even think that was a possibility, i thought it was happening here

11y ago

BigZigga

What's funny is ill look up restaurants in ontario ca all the time. I mean California but it directs me to Canada

11y ago

Loquesan

11y ago

BigZigga

11y ago

AllBoxingAD

unless ur from quebec nobody in canada cares about any sport other than hockey. berto and lopez fought in ontario, NOBODY gave a fk, i live in ontario, the only people who were talking about the fight were people on this forum You are right, I shouldnt speak for the rest of Canada because Quebec is completely different... in just about everything (except high taxes). Quebec has a love affair with its fighters, trust me. Gatti was practically God in Montreal.

11y ago

TheRoger

it amazes me too, because there is money to be made. Toronto is the biggest bandwagon city in the world. The raptors are number one now that theyre good, but a couple years ago the scalpers were basically giving the tickets away at union station. When GSP was around ufc was HUUUUGE! Now no one cares or knows anything about it.

11y ago

TheRoger

You are right there are not many real boxing fans in southern Ontario. They do a very poor job of promoting it over here. I know a few of my friends are fans, but other than that people are amazed to hear that the light heavyweight champion of the world is from and fights in quebec.

11y ago

PEsco

Completely false. unless ur from quebec nobody in canada cares about any sport other than hockey. berto and lopez fought in ontario, NOBODY gave a fk, i live in ontario, the only people who were talking about the fight were people on this forum

11y ago

AllBoxingAD

11y ago

PEsco

Ya south Shwa is grimmmyyyy. I used to party in Durham quite a bit in my younger years I know the area well. Scarborough guy myself, live in markham now. Anyway, here's the article regarding why it got squashed. Toronto limits the amount of gauze allowed, the promoter wanted more. http://t.thestar.com/#/article/business/sportonomics/2015/02/13/hand-wraps-could-unravel-deal-for-big-money-boxing-bouts-at-the-acc.html?referrer=https:%2F%2Fwww.google.ca%2F hahah thats crazy man, small world we live in. but damn now i see why there arent big money fights in toronto, who the **** wants to fight with 1/4 of the gauze you normally do??? that basically crushed my dreams of a canadian fighter having super fights in the rogers centre, gsp did it and the gate was 15 mill!

11y ago

AllBoxingAD

I have to respectfully tell Duva to not speak for us. Quebecois peeps support their own to the fullest in combat sports. Pascal, Stevenson, Bute, GSP (MMA)... Will never NOT be crowd favorites when they fight here. Its ridiculous to even think otherwise. After what Kovalev did to Pascal, if you bring him back here to fight Stevenson the fight will be HUUUUUUUGE, but we will be rooting for Stevenson to take the crown back to MTL.

11y ago

TheRoger

11y ago

Elblanco

damn man, how does the gauze regulations differ from say nevada? but im not from the gta, im kinda close by, i live in durham region in a ****ty town called oshawa, the crack and prostitution capital of ontario, i visit toronto frequently though, about an hour on the go train, nice to see a fellow canadian Ya south Shwa is grimmmyyyy. I used to party in Durham quite a bit in my younger years I know the area well. Scarborough guy myself, live in markham now. Anyway, here's the article regarding why it got squashed. Toronto limits the amount of gauze allowed, the promoter wanted more. http://t.thestar.com/#/article/business/sportonomics/2015/02/13/hand-wraps-could-unravel-deal-for-big-money-boxing-bouts-at-the-acc.html?referrer=https:%2F%2Fwww.google.ca%2F

11y ago

PEsco

What part of the city you in bro? The Stevenson vs bika fight was supposed to be in Toronto but they ****ed it up ver the amount of gauze. Stupid city lol damn man, how does the gauze regulations differ from say nevada? but im not from the gta, im kinda close by, i live in durham region in a ****ty town called oshawa, the crack and prostitution capital of ontario, i visit toronto frequently though, about an hour on the go train, nice to see a fellow canadian

11y ago

bojangles1987

I highly doubt that, but it would be amazing if Kovalev got more cheers against the Superduck than Quackenson.

11y ago

Elblanco

people in canada dont give a fk about either.. canadians dont even know adonis , the only athletes they really care about are hockey players and gsp. but if you wanna bring kov back be my ****ing guest, bring him to toronto!! What part of the city you in bro? The Stevenson vs bika fight was supposed to be in Toronto but they ****ed it up ver the amount of gauze. Stupid city lol

11y ago

PEsco

11y ago

TheRoger

Yes I was there. They were booing him because I don't think either man landed a punch in the first round. Stevenson was clearly carrying him until about the third when he decided to land something BOOM! He does have this punch hits harder than kovalev. That's all hes got over him though.

11y ago