Comments Thread For: Sergey Kovalev's Return Has Cloud of Uncertain Horizons

[Scipio2009]

Duva is a small hall promoter. She needs to stick to promoting shows in casino ballrooms. I still don't understand her strategy when she requested the WBC to make Kovalev the mandatory if she had no intention of making the fight. Did she really believe Stevenson was ducking Kovalev & he would relinquish his title? A point no one seems to bring up is that Stevenson was operating without a manager while at HBO and all he asked for was an extra $300,00 to make the fight. Now we're being fed a potential Kovalev/Pascal rematch and maybe a fight with Ward. Kovalev's potential opponents list looks more bleak than GGG's

short answer is yes, Duva believed that the hype behind Kovalev had gotten so big that Stevenson would drop the belt and continue on as a Montreal fighter for however long he'd have left in the sport.

The moment she saw that Stevenson wasn't going to run, and that his camp was backing him with serious money, Duva **** a brick and ran, hoping that the media scrum against Haymon would cover for her.

[Scipio2009]

Flores/Shumenov should be a non-factor. I can't see people wanting to go to that or watch it on tv even for free.




That's when Hyrunov steps in, outbids Haymon, and Haymon's guy pulls another Quillin.

That seems to be the only hope; Hyrunov (who seemingly has no ties to Kovalev other than being Russian) is supposed to swamp the bid, stage the fight in Russia, and then be more than happy to accept half the US fee from HBO than he'd get on the open market, as there are seemingly no current ties between Hyrunov and HBO (HBO had no interest in the Povetkin-Perez fight).

note: the two fighters in question are Beterbiev(GYM) and Fonfara(Warriors Boxing), both of whom only have advisory relationships with Haymon. I doubt strongly that Haymon has the pull to have those two dump out on a major payday, with no other real options to offer in the void.

[Scipio2009]

If that happens I suspect the most likely outcome is for Kov to drop the belt(s). I do hold some feelings that Beterbiev could want to fight Kov so bad that he would leave PBC for this opportunity. And with Haymon being willing to allow Andre Dirrell & Lucas Matthysse to leave seemingly of their own accord & definitely without drama as others seem to have upon break ups I don't think this is out of the realm of possibilities.

Leaving PBC isn't the issue; if some third party was willing to commit more money to the fight than what PBC was able to, I have no doubt that Haymon would be more than happy to see his affiliated fighter make more money.

The problem comes about when Team Kovalev seems to be angling for the fight to happen on HBO at half the value of the actual matchup; Stevenson-Kovalev, fighting for "all of the marbles' at 175, is a far bigger fight than the $2m-$3m that HBO may have been willing to put up if pushed.

I have no idea what Beterbiev made for his last fight, and I doubt that HBO is putting even $2m behind Kovalev-Mohammedi.

Why would GYM ever take Beterbiev to HBO knowing that 1)him being the mandatory challenger guarantees him a title fight, aganst Kovalev or for the vacant belt, 2)Kovalev is likely to take near 80% of whatever is put up by HBO for the fight, and 3)GYM is actively working with another broadcaster [PBC outlets, which link also to Showtime] who has strong interest in their fighter and seemingly values the fight more that HBO does?

[Cuban Linx]

Leaving PBC isn't the issue; if some third party was willing to commit more money to the fight than what PBC was able to, I have no doubt that Haymon would be more than happy to see his affiliated fighter make more money.

The problem comes about when Team Kovalev seems to be angling for the fight to happen on HBO at half the value of the actual matchup; Stevenson-Kovalev, fighting for "all of the marbles' at 175, is a far bigger fight than the $2m-$3m that HBO may have been willing to put up if pushed.

I have no idea what Beterbiev made for his last fight, and I doubt that HBO is putting even $2m behind Kovalev-Mohammedi.

Why would GYM ever take Beterbiev to HBO knowing that 1)him being the mandatory challenger guarantees him a title fight, aganst Kovalev or for the vacant belt, 2)Kovalev is likely to take near 80% of whatever is put up by HBO for the fight, and 3)GYM is actively working with another broadcaster [PBC outlets, which link also to Showtime] who has strong interest in their fighter and seemingly values the fight more that HBO does?

It's an interesting situation. I believe Beterbiev is really being used as a drone to take out Kovalev. I honestly don't believe that Haymon has so much invested into Beterbiev that he would care about winning a purse bid knowing that Kovalev is going to take 85% of the split just to fight on his network against someone like Beterbiev.

With a guy like Beterbiev they are probably willing to take a risk by allowing him to fight on HBO in the hopes that he can beat Kovalev and then return to PBC with 3 titles.

[Scipio2009]

Yes, and they were dropped for PBC. Main Events are not putting Kovalev on PBC, period.



They were both fighting on HBO, the fight was going to be made. Stevenson didn't want the fight, then turned Hopkins and Pascal down too. GYM didn't want Kovalev as mandatory, so they expedited the purse bid to scare Main Events off with PBC. It worked, but let's not pretend it was anything other that.

And no amount of spin will change the fact Stevenson turned down three big names and is deliberately fighting bums.

lol

-Stevenson turned down Hopkins because Hopkins wanted a 75/25 split on the money (Team Kovalev was more than happy to give up 75% of the pot for the opportunity)

-Stevenson turned down Pascal because Pascal was demanding a 50/50 split of the money for a mandatory title defense [WBC rules entitle the WBC champion to a 70/30 split] (Team Kovalev was more than happy to give Pascal an apparent 55/45 split of the money)

-GYM expedited the purse bid process, because they already knew how things were going to play out and simply didn't want to waste the time with the Kabuki theater (Stevenson fights in April, Kovalev fights in June/July, formal talks starting July/August, impasse is reached, purse bids are announced for September, and Duva cries about the process harming the relationship she is working to establish with HBO).

Kovalev is currently being lined up to face the same string of bums that you're ripping Stevenson for; only difference is that he's positioned to be making less than half the money

[Foreign Soil]

Kovalev's the champ - what's the uncertainty?

[Scipio2009]

It's not the same, Dunn. Kovalev and Stevenson were fighting on the same network. There couldn't have been a more perfect scenario to set up a showdown between them, but Stevenson bolted to a competing network. You can say that this occurred in 2014, which is true, but it's also true that Stevenson's move then still affects the situation today. Here's why he made it: The man came to the game late in life, so his career is shortened. His amateur background is short, therefore, he's not a completely developed fighter. He only has his monster left, and what limited skills that Emanuel Stewart was able to hone before his passing. All of these factors, plus the fact that he is signed with the master tactician of milking a career, are the true reasons behind the delay in a showdown with Kovalev. Sergey's loyalty to HBO and the network's reluctance to take a bath in order to work with Haymon, should not be used as reasons to blame team Kovalev for this fight not happening.

A bit disingenuous to say that Stevenson "bolted"; HBO didn't seem interested in signing him to a longterm deal like they did Kovalev, Showtime showed interest in airing the fight that HBO had chosen to air, and GYM came to HBO with an offer to match the bid for the fight and keep their planned Stevenson-Kovalev fight, which they refused to match, so Stevenson went on his way.

Kovalev and his manager are loyal to Main Events for giving them that initial opportunity; his own talent proved out, and he earned the rest under his own volition, but I get it.

Still, it's odd that Kovalev and his manager would support the situation that would pay him half the money of what a fight could be worth or flatly avoid the matchup that could set Kovalev for the rest of his life (WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO/Ring/IBO light heavyweight champion, at a time where they only believed threats are Beterbiev and Ward, on a network that has shown itself happy with just keeping it's stars active against any opponent)

[Scipio2009]

I want a link to the specifics of why Stevenson did what he did (when Stevenson bolted HBO it certainly appeared that he was running from Sergey - also, Stevenson appeared to be reluctant to fight BHop), so if it was all about HBO refusing to give Stevenson $300,000 more, that seems quite amazing (and pass up the opportunity to feature the top two high heavyweights on HBO) for basically small change and lose that opportunity perhaps forever. By the way, given the opponents Stevenson has faced since he left HBO, it really appears that he doesn't care to be matched against the best opponents.

No idea about the exact numbers but HBO wanted to have Stevenson-Fonfara be the lead-in fight for Adonis to Stevenson-Kovalev, Showtime put in a bid to GYM to air Stevenson-Fonfara, and HBO refused to match the bid.

In terms of whatever else, Stevenson now simply has a person dedicated to watching after his boxing business and a team backing him (if Kovalev had something similar, he wouldn't have had to give Hopkins a 75/25 on the money for a fight on his channel and in Main Events' home region, or give Jean Pascal a 45/55 split on what was basically a title eliminator).

[Scipio2009]

It's an interesting situation. I believe Beterbiev is really being used as a drone to take out Kovalev. I honestly don't believe that Haymon has so much invested into Beterbiev that he would care about winning a purse bid knowing that Kovalev is going to take 85% of the split just to fight on his network against someone like Beterbiev.

With a guy like Beterbiev they are probably willing to take a risk by allowing him to fight on HBO in the hopes that he can beat Kovalev and then return to PBC with 3 titles.

A lot of people think Beterbiev beats Kovalev, GYM believes Beterbiev beats Kovalev, and I think that Michel has Haymon believing that Beterbiev beats Kovalev. Basically, everyone with a say thinks the risk is worth it.

The rest of it is about properly following through the process of acting in their fighter's best interest; GYM in trying to best position the fight for Beterbiev, and Haymon looking to make sure that his fighter takes home the biggest purse possible.

If HBO gets the fight, so be it; point is that HBO isn't getting it at a 50% discount on the value.

[HI-TECH Boxing]

Flores/Shumenov should be a non-factor. I can't see people wanting to go to that or watch it on tv even for free.




That's when Hyrunov steps in, outbids Haymon, and Haymon's guy pulls another Quillin.

Kovalev doesn't have any association with Hyrunov (as far as I'm aware). I don't see why they would bid for him. They seem to only be interested in the Heavyweight division.
I wouldn't mind seeing Kov join Hyrunov, somehow, if he could.
I don't trust Kathy Duva, I seriously don't. She basically has no power. Hyrunov could give Kovalev that power. Kovalev and Klimas will most likely stay loyal to Duva. I understand, she gave them their only chance. But she can't do much for them going forward.
Don't be surprised to see Kov lose his belts one by one on the negotiation table simply because they will refuse to go into purse bids.
Kovalev needs a change on his team and that change will probably have to be Duva. But that won't happen.

Now I could totally be wrong about all of this. Just expressing an opinion.