Ok, What a mess Stevenson/Kovalev is!

[Greed.]

Main events say that they pulled out of purse bids because they knew that they would lose it and can't have Kovalev on anything but HBO. This has nothing to do with Stevenson/Haymon, looked like they were fully ready for the purse bid and fight.

[Dr Rumack]

The problem ultimately is multi-fight contracts with networks. They kill fights.

The purse bid system might not be perfect but it's a way to get fights made. HBO should compete with Haymon (via Duva) for the right to show the fight. Whoever's willing to pay more for it should get it. Like I say, it's not perfect, but it's simple and it gets fights made which is what really matters.

Networks, promoters, and everyone else want security in return when they invest in fighters. But being able to tie fighters down like this is what kills fights.

For the record, Haymon is probably worse for this than anyone else. So it's not like he has any moral high ground here.

[bojangles1987]

I can't wait to hear what Kovalev has to say. My guess is he's pretty much clueless and will sound like it. That's not an excuse though. If he didn't understand that this basically killed the Stevenson fight before, he'll know now, and he will need to do everything he can to push Duva into making it. Anything less from him, Duva, and everyone on his team is inexcusable.

[bojangles1987]

Unless Kovalev was going to be paid an insultingly low amount or less than 50% of the purse, then I say Duva should not have turned down the proposal. Being the undisputed, lineal champ in any division is priceless.

Maybe we don't know and will never know all the facts, but at this point I believe Duva made a bad business decision.

It was agreed upon, the way I understand it, that the purse bid would be 50/50.

[Superbee]

Does Stevenson sell more than Kovalev?

How about TV ratings?

I'm not entirely sure

Both Stevenson vs Bika on CBS and Kovalev vs Pascal on HBO drew around 1.2 million according to Nielsen... Though Pascal sold half of Kovalev's fight while Stevenson was all alone in the process...

In comparison, Kovalev vs Hopkins drew 1,3 million viewers...

[Pigeons]

I can't wait to hear what Kovalev has to say. My guess is he's pretty much clueless and will sound like it. That's not an excuse though. If he didn't understand that this basically killed the Stevenson fight before, he'll know now, and he will need to do everything he can to push Duva into making it. Anything less from him, Duva, and everyone on his team is inexcusable.

You're very rational when your favorite fighter's team ducks a fight. You post a lot differently when the other side screws it up. That says a lot about how biased you are.

[The Big Dunn]

im a kov fan but i do know this... if this was team stevens who walked away then the whole site would be yelling duck

Exactly. All the people who killed stevenson and haymon, even though rick reeno showed it was the fault of all involved, should do the same now.

[ИATAS]

First time I've commented since the news broke and that's because I believe we'll understand what is going on here in the upcoming days/weeks. No point speculating here. Obviously team Kovalev have wanted Stevenson for a long time, so there is some serious politics being played here. Which almost always boils down to money. I believe we'll see the bigger picture soon.

[Foreign Soil]

Should've fought back in 2013 when the fight was easy to be made, but someone didn't want it.

Quuuuuuack.

[Superbee]

It was agreed upon, the way I understand it, that the purse bid would be 50/50.

And probably more than his next 4 fights combined ... So he's basically losing 1 - 1 1/2 years in salary ...