Does HBO still hold the rights to air Stevenson's next fight?

[Tom Cruise]

It's so lame. HBO comes across as the bad guy here IMO. They've overpaid for so many fights, why not overpay for this one so they can keep Stevenson/Kovalev alive?

I guess a worry for them is if they overpay for Fonfara fight, without a guarantee of a Kovalev fight to follow, then theres nothing to stop Stevenson leaving for Showtime/Hopkins after the Fonfara fight.

Leaving HBO basically overpaying for a crap fight that helps build a Showtime event.

I really think Haymon has negotiated like this knowing that HBO wouldnt do it.

[Larry the boss]

Hopkins just said, a day or two ago, that he is after the undisputed crown... I think he wins against Stevenson (if he still has something left or not) and then retires the biggest legend ever...

Well to be fair he would not be undisputed without beat Klovaev or however you spell it..but he would be the unified lineal champion and would have to be ranked somewhere in the top 10 atg

[Tay Roc]

It's so lame. HBO comes across as the bad guy here IMO. They've overpaid for so many fights, why not overpay for this one so they can keep Stevenson/Kovalev alive?

How is HBO the bad guy? They don't do business with al haymon anymore, and refuse to overpay for a fight/fighter who is bound to leave to showtime anyway. It's better for them to cut their losses now, as opposed to later on in the year. It sounds like the kovalev fight was never going to happen once Stevenson signed with Haymon.

[Kagami Taiga]

How is HBO the bad guy? They don't do business with al haymon anymore, and refuse to overpay for a fight/fighter who is bound to leave to showtime anyway. It's better for them to cut their losses now, as opposed to later on in the year. It sounds like the kovalev fight was never going to happen once Stevenson signed with Haymon.

its hard to be hbo tho. basically kovalev is alone on that side of the curtain. the only big fight that can be made is ward. they sghould have left the options open with hopkins. thata why they look like a bad guy imo. stevenson/hopkins is an excellent fight yet hbo has no interest in airing it.

[bojangles1987]

How is HBO the bad guy? They don't do business with al haymon anymore, and refuse to overpay for a fight/fighter who is bound to leave to showtime anyway. It's better for them to cut their losses now, as opposed to later on in the year. It sounds like the kovalev fight was never going to happen once Stevenson signed with Haymon.

Maybe, but they're making it easy by giving him up to Showtime.

[MrRolltide91]

hbo has no interest of showing adonis/b hop?

Why not?

[Kagami Taiga]

hbo has no interest of showing adonis/b hop?

Why not?

they dont wanna work with gbp or hopkins.

[superchamp]

they dont wanna work with gbp or hopkins.

Exactly.

I think if HBO would have let Stevenson fight Hopkins next, like he wanted, we could have avoided the Fonfara fight altogether, had the Hopkins fight in May and then the Kovalev fight in the fall.

Because HBO refused to buy a perfectly legitimate fight vs. Hopkins, Stevenson will likely fight Fonfara on Showtime, then Hopkins on Showtime in the fall, then maybe Kovalev in 2015, possibly on Showtime.

Now they have Kovalev signed with nobody lining up to fight him.

Ward doesn't seem interested. Froch is busy with Groves and still has more lucrative options. Pascal might take the fight, but he also has lucrative options.

Unfortunately for HBO, Kovalev is high risk / low reward for most fighters. If they want to make the fight, they need to make the reward worthwhile.