Comments Thread For: Stevenson's Promoter: Kovalev Clash is Inevitable

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Don’t be fooled by Adonis Stevenson’s immediate reaction to the possibility of a mouthwatering showdown with Sergey Kovalev. All parties involved in Saturday’s HBO-televised light heavyweight doubleheader were aware the telecast was designed to create future interest in such a clash.

The pair of knockout artists did their part on fight night. Stevenson successfully defended his World light heavyweight championship with a 6th round stoppage of England’s Tony Bellew in the evening’s main event at Colisée de Quebec (nee Pepsi Coliseum). The televised co-feature saw Kovalev tear through Ismayl Sillakh, scoring two knockdowns en route to an emphatic 2nd round knockout. [Click Here To Read More]

[Evil Abed]

I think Quillin has said that kinda of crap about GGG. Smh. Not as optimistic as I was 5 minutes ago that this fight would happen.

[bopbopbbe]

Theres no way it's the next fight. Stevenson will fight bute/pascal winner next most likely. Hopefully after that he'll fight kovalev but its doubtful, stevenson is shook.

[AP♠]

I think ppl are jumping the gun when they say Stevenson is ducking Kovalev. What credentials does Kovalev speak of? Campillo @ best? Let the fight brew in a pair (2) of fights on the same night. Stevenson has done his due to gain recognition and now it's Kovalev's turn. Let the wine age a bit

[-PBP-]

Its up to HBO to put up money for it. Its that simple.

[chepboxingking]

Theres no way it's the next fight. Stevenson will fight bute/pascal winner next most likely. Hopefully after that he'll fight kovalev but its doubtful, stevenson is shook.

True but unlike Kid Chocolate, Odanis is 36yrs old. How many more yrs does he have left at the top level? 2 mayb 3 yrs top. He has to fight the most profitable fight out there and kovalev is not that just yet. Cant blame stevenson for that. Sadly is part of the sport.

[RiC-DiC]

These two are doing good things for the LHW division.

[boxingfocus]

I think ppl are jumping the gun when they say Stevenson is ducking Kovalev. What credentials does Kovalev speak of? Campillo @ best? Let the fight brew in a pair (2) of fights on the same night. Stevenson has done his due to gain recognition and now it's Kovalev's turn. Let the wine age a bit

You are missing the point.

It's not about credentials. It's about brand name. Of course, the two are fairly related. If Kovalev can score another couple of big KOs then the fight becomes much bigger. It's just simmering at the moment. Stevenson will make more fighting the Bute/Pascal winner than he will fighting Kovalev for his next fight. He touted guys who are already big brands - Froch, Hopkins. Boxing is a business at the end of the day. Why fight Kovalev now for a fairly unimpressive purse when it could be a box office mega fight in a year or so? It's high risk (Kovalev looking the biggest threat to Adonis atm) and low reward (losing to Kovalev would derail his career).

[deanrw]

The fight will happen in late 2014 as long as both keep winning. It looks like they just want to get a good money fight for Adonis first.

They should be careful in selecting the next fight for Adonis first. He is beatable and I can also see Pascal or maybe Hopkins beating him also.
Pascal has solid whiskers and has much faster hands with decent power. Hopkins is downright crafty.

It is amazing how styles work. I Favor Kovalev against Adonis, but he himself could get reckless and get knocked out.

[HardSciFi]

I think ppl are jumping the gun when they say Stevenson is ducking Kovalev. What credentials does Kovalev speak of? Campillo @ best? Let the fight brew in a pair (2) of fights on the same night. Stevenson has done his due to gain recognition and now it's Kovalev's turn. Let the wine age a bit

I disagree. Dawson and Cloud were far better at their peak than anyone Kovalev has fought, but Stevenson fought both these guys after they lost and looked horrible in both their previous losses and vs Stevenson. Cloud was a glorified punching bag and Dawson we didn't get to see much of but he hung himself out there for Adonis who nailed him with a HR.

I honestly don't see how you can say Cloud and Dawson in those fights, at that time, were any better than Cleverly was when Kovalev beat him.

And other than those three fights I mention, what separates these guys? Adonis has actually lost once too.

I think their resume is basically equal. Adonis is a bigger name, but he can fight at home. If Kovalev could fight at home I'm sure he'd have a big legion of fans at every fight too.

Its up to HBO to put up money for it. Its that simple.

I agree with this. If HBO wants the fight to happen, and they make it Stevenson's best option, then it should happen. They can still have Stevenson fight the winner of Bute - Pascal after Kovalev, win or lose, it's a huge fight in Canada.