Comments Thread For: “Fighting Words” — Stevenson Gives Kovalev the Business

[Mr. David]

I heard that the likelihood of it happening in a baseball stadium again is slim.
UIC pavillion is always a good spot though, don't know how big it is though...

Bummer about the baseball stadium, but if they can hold an all-Chicago clash in front of a sizable crowd, that'd be a fun atmosphere and hopefully a decent fight.

Of course, if Fonfara somehow upsets Stevenson, this is all moot…

-David

[Hougigo]

Bummer about the baseball stadium, but if they can hold an all-Chicago clash in front of a sizable crowd, that'd be a fun atmosphere and hopefully a decent fight.

Of course, if Fonfara somehow upsets Stevenson, this is all moot…

-David

Yea, if that happens they could do that, and summer time is coming, so perfect time to do something like that. Perfect weather for that.

Mollo seems to be a fan favorite over there as he's a ****er, but I don't know if he's retiring now. Also I think Donovan George is fighting out of Chicago or something like that.

Agnew maybe... don't know how big he is over there as most of his fights were on small promitonal cards.

He got good exposure here.... so who knows

[SUBZER0ED]

Not HBO per say, but Herschman. I woudn't give guys a 5-6 fight deal like the one floyd has. Thats insane. But a simple 2 fight deal was easy and affordable for these 2.

Herschman wanted this to be the biggest non ppv fight this year for HBO. You need to protect your investment better.

ooking forward, imagine if Cotto somehow beats Sergio then goes to Showtime and fights floyd again?

I'm sure Ken Hershman is not acting alone. He's the president of HBO Sports, but he has to answer to those above him. Potential decisions are likely run by the bigger brass before they are finalized.

[JDD1]

I'm sure Ken Hershman is not acting alone. He's the president of HBO Sports, but he has to answer to those above him. Potential decisions are likely run by the bigger brass before they are finalized.

I can't see him having to go up the ladder to make a deal for stevenson and kovalev. I just find him to be incompetent and IMO he is hurting HBO long term with his decision making.

[uncommon]

Baby Kong is making himself irrelevant now that he won't fight Kalashnikov who will continue to mow-down everyone in his path and become legendary.

[I Love Jesus!]

There are a few things I take from all of this:

-Stevenson clearly doesn't want to fight Kovalev. He desreves any criticism he gets.

-Al Haymon was able to get STevenson $1.75 mil (allegedly) for a Fonfura fight. That is unbelievable. He definitely hurts the sport by his actions but he also helps the individuals he represents, which is his job.

-HBO needs to bring back GBP and Haymon fighters and fire Herschman. There was no reason these guys weren't forced to fight last year. I agree with the points of dan rafael and Kevin Iole-Herschman being cheap and ****** really messed this up.

He refused to put GBP/Haymon fighters on. Haymon has responded by taking away HBO's biggest non ppv fight of the year by signing Stevenson. Thats a crucial blow to HBO in the short term.

-Its time for ESPN to step up and invest heavily in boxing. If they use their vast resources they can definitely make great fights. They would be able to put on fights between rival promotional companies as well.

Just my two cents.

ESPN would have to go pay per view to afford the really big fights I think. These top fighters want big big money especially if its a risky fight.

[I Love Jesus!]

I agree HBO made the best move for them at the time. That said, this fight should have been held in 2013 and the cost of the Fonfura bout only became an issue because Herschman's failed to lock both fighters up earlier last year.

He left an opening and Sowtime took full advantage. If we did that on our jobs you already know what happens.

Agree HBO needs a new boxing guy. Is he the same guy who was over paying for berto fights?

[g-wane]

HBO wanted the fight right away, they just did the set up card with both stevenson and Kovalev getting KOs on the same card. They didnt want it to marinate, but stevenson did. Like i said they cant force stevenson to fight KOvalev. Stevenson could have fought Hopkins after Kovalev, but he chose Fonfara instead. But now he's all about business.

You can't blame Stevenson for going where the money is .. HBO has a history of low balling fighters for dangerous fights, that just the nature of the business.

Fighters can ether take the high risk low reward fights and it can work out one of two ways .. One) they when and go on to bigger and better things or 2) they lose and forgotten about ..

Ether way its a gamble ..

Showtime realizes the dilemma fighter face and use it to their advantage. This is something they could not do 5 to 10 years ago. But what it does do is make HBO dig deeper into their pockets for quality fights or else face losing good fights to showtime.