Comments Thread For: WBC Officially Orders Stevenson-Kovalev Title Fight

[Barcham]

When Haymon wins the purse bid (which he will) what the hell happens then? Does HBO FINALLY work with Al again?

Maybe Roc Nation will bid and win. Never know until it goes to bid. It's also possible that a deal will be worked out and it will not need to go to bid. We'll find out over the next few weeks.

[mathed]

When Haymon wins the purse bid (which he will) what the hell happens then? Does HBO FINALLY work with Al again?

He knows HBO won't work with him and vice versa, that will be the reason the fight doesn't happen too. There will be a demand for Stevenson to make like 3 or 4 million dollars and HBO will tell them to take a hike........no dice, no fight.

[KnockoutNed]

Wouldn't surprise me if Adonis pulls a Rid**** Bowe and throws his belt in the garbage.

[Scipio2009]

When they will order LSC to face Rigo?

Why would they order LSC to fight Rigo? Rigo's got his own championships to worry about, the WBC hasn't positioned Rigo for anything, and he comes to the table without any real drawing fanbase or TV partner (sanctioning fee would come off of the actual size/scope of the fight).

The WBC gains nothing from pushing for Rigo, especially with Caribe Promotions pricing Rigo out of near every even sideways reasonable partnership.

Stevenson-Kovalev, for all the belts, is a massive fight; it does a massive gate in Quebec or draws a strong site fee from the MGM Grand/Barclays Center, and would draw extensive attention on TV (maybe even worthy of a US PPV); the WBC impeding this fight would've looked ******ed.

[Scipio2009]

It was Stevenson's promoter who did that. We don't know why the promoter did that because they could have made a Kovalev fight without the WBC ordering it. Maybe he wanted to defy Al Haymon and show that he is in charge of Stevenson's career.

We don't know if the WBC ordered the fight as a result of Stevenson's promoter requesting it or if the WBC is simply trying to capitalize on a money-making opportunity. Regardless, Haymon could still squash the fight .if he doesn't want it to happen and overpay Stevenson for the rest of his career while Stevenson fights on PBC undercards.

Going directly to the WBC, and their mandated split of the purse, eases the process required to put the fight together. GYM and Main Events can sit and negotiate for a while, trying to work out their issues between the two of them, but if the negotiations aren't fruitful, the fight goes to the highest bidder, with the fighter/camps splitting the bid 50/50.

Negotiations fall apart over the TV, the fight goes to purse bid, someone puts up $10m for the fight, and each fighter walks back to their camps with $5m (of which they'll split with their camp, according to whatever terms that they have with their camps). you add in endorsement money and various upsides on the event, and both fighters end up with the type of payday that they've earned, instead of just being compelled to share the $3m that HBO was willing to offer the initial time.

[Scipio2009]

You're seriously ****ing sad.

The act alone of asking for more money is not a duck. Walking away from a fight is a duck. Like Stevenson did. I've said this three times now. If you can't understand that because you want so badly to defend Al Haymon's side on this, then perhaps you should do some research.

No, that would show you Stevenson ducking, and you can't ever admit that.

... so what's your answer?

In case you missed it, Stevenson-Kovalev, if it were to go to a purse bid, has a 50/50 split written into the terms.

If Kovalev fights his mandatory, and then walks away from this massive unification fight (WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO/Ring) with Stevenson over money, would you slander Kovalev the way Stevenson was slandered, for walking away over money?

You add that his only viable opponents beyond the mandatory are Brahmer and Chilemba, and you can't say that he was able to secure a bigger opportunity by not taking the 50/50 to fight Stevenson; at least Stevenson, at the time, had Hopkins as a possible fight.

what would you say about Kovalev? nothing, since you're a hypocrite.

[Scipio2009]

Good news.

Two big issues: 1) Will Mohammedi and the IBF allow it? This will turn out to be the smaller issue of the two. Either they do and they unify all 4 belts or they don't and they unify 3 belts with Mohameddi fighting for a vacant belt. 2) HBO or PBC? Haymon will win the bid without a doubt, will HBO allow that matchup to happen on another network? Haha, I don't see it. What would they gain from that? This one will be a roller coaster.

How long is Kovalev's deal with HBO? If the rumored plan holds (Stevenson fights in April, Kovalev fights Mohammedi in June/July, Stevenson-Kovalev happens September/October), Kovalev would've fought four fights for HBO since signing the deal. Doubt that HBO locked themselves into a deal for more than four fights for a fighter who hadn't developed much of a name yet. Unless Duva does a disservice to her fighter, both Stevenson and Kovalev should end up, heading into the talks, free to chase down the most money possible for their fight.

If GYM and Main Events can come to an understanding, even if they end up going to purse bid, they could go after the money together.

What venue will allow GYM/Main Events to bring in the biggest gate/site fee? Which event sponsor pays up for the center emblem? (Corona, Toyota[?])? What UK channel gets the international rights (SkySports vs BoxNation)? Who gets the remaining international rights? (Televisa vs Azteca, German TV, Russian TV?) And yes, which US TV partner brings the most money to the table (HBO PPV vs Showtime PPV? HBO or NBC/Showtime/CBS/ABC/?).

However the fight shakes out, as long as both guys get what the fight is worth, is fine by me.

[Scipio2009]

Assuming Haymon wins the purse bid the fight either ends up on NBC or Showtime. NBC seems logical based on Haymon's model, but Stevenson doesn't have a lot of value to the PBC if Kovalev destroys him. If that happens it's a big showcase for the crusher and back to HBO he goes. Is that money well invested for them?

I would think SHO and HBO would pay a MASSIVE licence fee for this fight, like in the $4mil+ range.

Personally I think the fight is bigger than a $4m TV rights fee, but that's to be seen.

Still, if Kovalev takes the fight, the fight happens in primetime on NBC, and Kovalev unifies all of the belts and wins in style, he's launched himself to a point beyond where HBO seems willing to pay (likely into the $3m minimum range), basically forcing HBO to invest in Kovalev as a PPV fighter.

If they keep to that $2m-$3m for the full fee (Kovalev/Main Events and opponent), refusing to move Kovalev to PPV, Team Krusher has a decision to make

[joesaiditstrue]

Now if only they did something about the LWW champ

well, to be fair (and i'm pretty much anti-all sanctioning bodies, even the IBF.. they removed Shawn Porter from the top-15 when he lost to Brook, wtf?), the WBC has been on record stating that Stevenson, Garcia, and Cotto all have to fight their mandatory challengers in their next non-scheduled fights or they have to vacate

you can say "well they'll say anything blah blah", but they've never made a hard statement like this publically before and didnt back it up, not that I can remember in recent time anyways

Garcia/Peterson winner has to fight Postol next, and then Ruslan/Matthysse winner fights the Garcia/Peterson vs Postol winner

Stevenson vs Bika winner has to fight Kovalev next

Cotto vs TBA winner has to fight GGG next

[SN!PER]

Yes!!!!

2015 the year of the fights