Another Kovalev blatant duck to avoid the unification of all LHW championship belts.

Toshmurph - "50/50" is meaningless if you're getting 50% of a smaller pot. Kovalev requested the mandatory position. Kovalev requested 50/50. Kovalev requested a purse bid. STEVENSON SAID YES. But if the fight isn't sold to the highest bidder, what does 50% even mean? Stevenson was willing to fight on HBO . . . IF HBO WAS OFFERING THE MOST MONEY! The fight didn't happen because Kovalev backed out. Period. Don't sign an exclusive TV contract if you want to call out a fighter from another network. Don't sign an exclusive TV contract when you hold championships that obligate you to face mandatory challengers, possibly on other networks depending on how purse bids turn out. Look, Kovalev got his money. Good for him. Congratulations. I'm not knocking the guy. But he ducked Stevenson so he could get that money. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

What really sucks is that most (me included) think that Kovalev is the better fighter and both are fighting about the same level of opposition lately but Stevenson is making a ton more money. Stevenson's purse in Sept was $750K. Kovalev made $750K in June.

Yaaaawwwwwn..wake me up when the fight is made

Kovalev is the bigger draw. Kovalev-Mohammedi: 1.014M. Stevenson-Karpency: 581K. Kovalev-Pascal: 1.152M. Stevenson-Bika: 1.37M. Kovalev-Hopkins: 1.397M. Stevenson-Sukhotsky: 323K. Kovalev-Caparello: 990K. Stevenson-Fonfara: 800K.

This post is so naiive If Kovalevs team could have easily won the purse bid, you know Team Adonis would have vacated just because hes contractually bound to PBC. The same reason why Kovalev would turn down a fight if its not on HBO Boxing is a business, sadly. Why isnt that getting through to you? Pretty sure both would love the opportunity to fight for the undisputed title, if it didnt interfere with their long term network relationships. Its a very risky fight for both. The one thing I never understood is why Stevenson signed with Haymon in the first place. Kovalev/Hopkins arent going to PBC, pretty sure Pascal is HBO (could be wrong). What were his plans under Haymon? Lmao.. You can't make hypothetical "what ifs" to prove your arguement, by saying stevenson would have backed out and been stripped. He may have, he may not, either way it doesn't change the fact that in reality it was kovolev's team that backed away.. Why in the world would Stevenson have to take this new deal from duva??? what good does it do for him???

1 50/50 of what... 5 million, 10 million, 50/50 of what.. The original purse bid was for a 50/50 split so if new 50/50 offer from duva was that great, they would have won a purse bid, and this fight would have happened already 2 and 3. So,,,, stevenson has a multi fight deal with Haymon and PBC .. They are both tied up, that's why it should have gone to purse bid and let the best 50/50 offer win 4. I can agree to a certain extent, but stevenson can sellout in Canada.. He is a legit draw there, especially if it's a big fight.. A purse bid, especially a unique one where its 50/50like they had, would have cleared up everything, and given the biggest payday to both guys.. This post is so naiive If Kovalevs team could have easily won the purse bid, you know Team Adonis would have vacated just because hes contractually bound to PBC. The same reason why Kovalev would turn down a fight if its not on HBO Boxing is a business, sadly. Why isnt that getting through to you? Pretty sure both would love the opportunity to fight for the undisputed title, if it didnt interfere with their long term network relationships. Its a very risky fight for both. The one thing I never understood is why Stevenson signed with Haymon in the first place. Kovalev/Hopkins arent going to PBC, pretty sure Pascal is HBO (could be wrong). What were his plans under Haymon?

What are you talking about!? It's seems pretty clear and fair from everybody else's stand point! 1. They're offering Stevenson 50/50 2. Kovalev has a multi fight agreement with HBO 3. Stevenson does not have a multi-fight contract with Showtime, he has bounced from network to network! So Kovalev should get the HBO Concession! 4. I don't like the term A-Side/B-Side but when we take viewing figures into account, as well as resume, Kovalev is the more established and popular fighter! So tell me what is your ****ing problem with it?? 1 50/50 of what... 5 million, 10 million, 50/50 of what.. The original purse bid was for a 50/50 split so if new 50/50 offer from duva was that great, they would have won a purse bid, and this fight would have happened already 2 and 3. So,,,, stevenson has a multi fight deal with Haymon and PBC .. They are both tied up, that's why it should have gone to purse bid and let the best 50/50 offer win 4. I can agree to a certain extent, but stevenson can sellout in Canada.. He is a legit draw there, especially if it's a big fight.. A purse bid, especially a unique one where its 50/50like they had, would have cleared up everything, and given the biggest payday to both guys..

What really sucks is that most (me included) think that Kovalev is the better fighter and both are fighting about the same level of opposition lately but Stevenson is making a ton more money.

1. 50/50 of how much? Do you understand the total pot is MUCH bigger on the GYM/Haymon side then on the Main Events/HBO side? 2. Kovalev has a contract with HBO, and HBO has an 'agreement' to ban all Haymon fighters from their shows. Something's got to give. The purse bid was the only honest way to settle it. 3. Stevenson does not have a contract with Showtime. He has one with GYM and Haymon though. They are the guys he is being loyal to. 4. How exactly are you the A-side when the 'B-side' and his team have more money then you, and are offering more money then you are to put the fight on? Who invited level headed thinking into this thread? Good post!

What are you talking about!? It's seems pretty clear and fair from everybody else's stand point! 1. They're offering Stevenson 50/50 2. Kovalev has a multi fight agreement with HBO 3. Stevenson does not have a multi-fight contract with Showtime, he has bounced from network to network! So Kovalev should get the HBO Concession! 4. I don't like the term A-Side/B-Side but when we take viewing figures into account, as well as resume, Kovalev is the more established and popular fighter! So tell me what is your ****ing problem with it?? 1. 50/50 of how much? Do you understand the total pot is MUCH bigger on the GYM/Haymon side then on the Main Events/HBO side? 2. Kovalev has a contract with HBO, and HBO has an 'agreement' to ban all Haymon fighters from their shows. Something's got to give. The purse bid was the only honest way to settle it. 3. Stevenson does not have a contract with Showtime. He has one with GYM and Haymon though. They are the guys he is being loyal to. 4. How exactly are you the A-side when the 'B-side' and his team have more money then you, and are offering more money then you are to put the fight on?

Except for that he would get a career high payday if it went to purse bid.. You can't complain about stevenson ducking, when a purse bid was set and you backed out,, If kovolev was going to get more money for a PPv fight, then hbo and duva would have bid on it, but in reality, Haymon was gonna pay kovolev more than hbo and duva.. You can spin it anyway you want, but kovolev's team fvcked him out of a career payday, just because they couldn't pay up very accurate assessment of a bad situation.

Last I remember, they pretty much had an agreement for the fight to have been set up next (that's why Kovalev fought in the undercard in Montreal) and Stevenson signed with Haymon before it was set up though maybe I'm wrong on that. And it was easily much closer when both fighters last fought on HBO and both said they wanted to do the fight but Stevenson signed a contract with Haymon knowing that it would've jeopardized the fight. (FWIW that contract he signed didn't actually pay him much more than what Kovalev's been making with HBO). So if Kovalev is criticized for making a decision that cost the fight this time around, then Stevenson making a decision should be criticized as well when he pretty much new it would've cost the fight back then. Duva making a decision to back out of the purse bid for her best interest despite the fact that it cost the fight is no different than Stevenson making a decision for his best interest and costing the fight. Just like Duva knew backing out of the purse bid ruins the chances of the fight, Stevenson signing with a guy for his best interest despite knowing it would've jeopardized the fight is no different. And even then, it's not like Kovalev is the only guy Stevenson has a problem with. It was the same with Hopkins AND Pascal with both saying it was difficult to arrange a deal with him. So what exactly am I supposed to think about the guy? Hey, I'm open to criticising both in this, cause they have both made it difficult to put on the most meaningful fight in the division but the most recent negotiations were terminated by team Kovalev, and that's that. But I agree, Stevenson should have fought one of Pascal or Hopkins, so a lot of the blame can also lay with him.

Kovalev requested the mandatory position. Kovalev requested a purse bid. Kovalev requested 50/50. Stevenson said okay. Kovalev ran away. His bluff got called. Move on. There's nothing to debate here. Kovalev tried to get Stevenson stripped, Stevenson called his bluff and Kovalev bailed. Facts are facts. Yeah you fail to put in the fact that Stevensons team and Haymon wanted the fight on Showtime, something Kovalev couldn't do as he had a multi fight agreement with HBO! Stevenson doesn't have any contract with Showtime but still insisted on ShoSports! So take your head out of your ass and get facts right

Lmao Kovolev and especially his team (main events) need to shut the hell up.. They had a purse bid and backed out, even though they were the ones that begged for kovolev to become the mandatory and force a purse bid... Notice how main event isn't worried about getting their man top dollar, they are just worried about being in control.. Kathy duva just needs to die already, I got no respect for her.. What are you talking about!? It's seems pretty clear and fair from everybody else's stand point! 1. They're offering Stevenson 50/50 2. Kovalev has a multi fight agreement with HBO 3. Stevenson does not have a multi-fight contract with Showtime, he has bounced from network to network! So Kovalev should get the HBO Concession! 4. I don't like the term A-Side/B-Side but when we take viewing figures into account, as well as resume, Kovalev is the more established and popular fighter! So tell me what is your ****ing problem with it??

Where is the duck? 50/50 is ridiculous given how superior Kovalev's career has been since they both got belts. Kovalev requested the mandatory position. Kovalev requested a purse bid. Kovalev requested 50/50. Stevenson said okay. Kovalev ran away. His bluff got called. Move on. There's nothing to debate here. Kovalev tried to get Stevenson stripped, Stevenson called his bluff and Kovalev bailed. Facts are facts.

Where is the duck? 50/50 is ridiculous given how superior Kovalev's career has been since they both got belts. By the way: Pascal is better than Stevenson. Hopkins is better than Stevenson. Stevenson's best wins (and after that it drops off into no-name territory) are Fonfara and Dawson. He boxes in a sideshow circuit protected from the real division.

Are you retarded, Kovalev had the WBO belt back then. Stevenson had the WBC, and Hopkins had the IBF and WBA. To become the Undisputed Champion of a division, a boxer need the IBF, WBA & WBC; you didn't know. HBO never setup the 5 belt unification fight, stop protecting your coward. You're a dumb ass bro. Smh when did I say anything about the other titles??? I said unification not undisputed.

Am I missing something? 50-50 for this fight seems more than fair all things told. It's weird when the guy who is the bigger star offers the other guy 50-50. The other guy refuses that and yet the bigger star is the one accused of ducking... Why doesn't Stevenson just say ok to 50-50? http://www.pix-host.com/allimages/12973108.bmp 12/19/2014 - Light heavyweight: Champion Adonis Stevenson has an optional defense against Dmitry Sukhotsky on Friday night and the winner can take one more optional defense. But, in a highly unusual move, the WBC accepted a proposal made by Main Events promoter Kathy Duva that the winner of the March 14 fight between three-belt titlist Sergey Kovalev and former champion Jean Pascal become the WBC mandatory challenger. Organizations typically do not rank titleholders from other organizations, but the WBC made an exception -- and a welcome one -- in an effort to force Stevenson into fighting the Kovalev-Pascal winner. If the sides do not make a deal and it goes to a purse bid the split will be 50-50, another highly unusual move because usually a WBC titleholder is entitled to no less than 60 percent in a purse bid. Stevenson or Haymon have no problem with the 50/50 split, the main condition from the WBC is really simple, it's 50/50 period, if it goes to a purse bid. Means on any network (Showtime, PBC or HBO), it would stay half & half. Be careful, team Duva are bluffers, liars, I mean lawyers playing with words; and your Sergey Kovalev endorse their cunning pretty damn well. http://www.pix-host.com/allimages/36817776.gif ESPN cuts 300 jobs, I guess Dan Rafael accepted his salary decrease.

A purse bid was called. Kovalev backed out. Period. There's nothing to argue about. Stevenson was willing to fight, Kovalev wasn't. Move on.

Stevenson will probably try to get a fight with Cleverly next. "Cleverly was robbed against Fonfara....former world champ....I will KO him." pbc has a lot of good fighters at 175....yet they aren't fighting each other so why in the world would anyone think they would fight non-pbc fighters?