Was Beterbiev's career on hold until Gvozdyk ended Stevenson?

Haymon was the other factor. Al had a thing about Stevenson and kept him away from serious threats as long as he possibly could. Beterbiev had to threaten Haymon with legal action to get out his contract and that was what allowed him to break away from Michel too. Thanks for that info. I've always put the blame entirely on Michel but suspected there was more to it. It was looking for a while as if Beterbiev's window of opportunity was going to completely pass him by.

Haymon was the other factor. Al had a thing about Stevenson and kept him away from serious threats as long as he possibly could. Beterbiev had to threaten Haymon with legal action to get out his contract and that was what allowed him to break away from Michel too. Haymon protection strikes again. The plan was for Stevenson to fight Kovalev for the undisputed but then Stevenson ran off under Haymon protection, fought a bunch of bums, then when he finally stepped up, he got KTFO'd.

Seemed like a bad situation that Beterbiev couldn't extricate himself from. Yvon Michel, being the promoter for both LHWs, kept Beterbiev simmering on the back burner until Stevenson's career played out. At least that's how it looked to me. Maybe there were other factors I'm not aware of. Haymon was the other factor. Al had a thing about Stevenson and kept him away from serious threats as long as he possibly could. Beterbiev had to threaten Haymon with legal action to get out his contract and that was what allowed him to break away from Michel too.