Comments Thread For: Fighting Words - Kovalev-Beterbiev Depends On Haymon

[King_]

Kovalev***8217;s opponent this past Saturday, Nadjib Mohammedi, wasn***8217;t given a chance to win (he didn***8217;t.) It wasn***8217;t even certain that the fight would be competitive (it wasn***8217;t).

Question, if all this was true why in the hell did this fight even happen? Oh yeah it was on HBO and besides TC & Ward HBO loves to have some KO artist beat up on a guy everyone knew wasn't going to be much of a threat in the first place. HBO doesn't like to have fights where guys use the skills of a boxer. Instead they want to be known as the network where you only see knockouts so they throw some poor guy in the ring who doesn't stand a chance in hell. That way Jim, Max, Harold & them can praise the puncher since he has no real boxing skills. Put that same guy in the ring against a true boxer that has all around boxing knowledge and isn't past his prime he'll get exposed and there goes all the praising from Larry, Curly and Moe.

OH MY GOD. STFU.


Kovalev doesn't have skills of a boxer? What the F**k does that even mean? A guy can't have both POWER and SKLLS? YDKSAB.

[Barcham]

For Beterbiev this is his dream fight. It is like Mayweather for GGG except they are both in the same division and the fight can be made. Especially to have the fight in RUSSIA. There is no way that Beterbiev will allow anyone to stop this fight as long as the offer from Duva is fair. And I do not see Haymon trying to stop the fight without just cause as this is one of the complaints against him in the lawsuits which have been filed. It would be a very ****** move to provide a recently fired smoking gun and a disgruntled fighter who might just decide to try and break his contract.
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If the offer presented is fair and there are no strings attached by Duva or HBO, I cannot see any reason for this fight not to happen.

[about.thousands]

Sick that fans openly root for Haymon to make his fighters duck and use outside the ring leverage to force other world Champs to vacate their belt. That's what it's come to? Haymon is so bad for the sport Stevenson was going to fight Kovalev it was done then he signed to Haymon who crushed that fight. The purse bid was a sham because the fight can only happen on HBO he's under contract. HBO works with every other promoter or fighter except Haymon. What does that tell you. If Stevenson has no promoter and is truly a network free agent this should be no problem to fight on HBO. But we all know what's going on and why the fight won't happen.

And this ain't just about Kovalev. Let's go down the line and name the top fighters from other rival promoters. Why ain't none of Haymon top fighters fighting GGG? Or fighting Ward? Or fighting Klitchcho? Or Crawford? Or Bradley? Or Cotto. Haymon has a huge stable but those guys aren't fighting the best. And none are in the running for any of these fights. Hell Haymon ain't even making top guys in his own stable fight each other. Khan turns down title shot against Bradley. OK but does Khan face Thurman or any of the top guys at 147 that Haymon controlls? Nope fights Algeri while Thurman same thing fights bum Collazo.

Fans rooting for champs to lose their belt thru purse bids aren't fans of the sport they're fans of promoters, networks, ect.

I don't trust Duva to make a fair offer. You have to realize her idea of fair is a 50/50 split on a purse bid (which never happens between champs and challengers), fight only on her network. The 50/50 split was agreed to but the insistence of HBO only was ridiculous, it was a purse bid. While Haymon & Stevenson continue to get the blame for the first Stevenson/Kovalev fight not happening the real story is HBO killed the fight. The Showtime deal was given to HBO to match and they refused. The facts of the situation doesn't matter because it doesn't fit the narrative that Stevenson ducked.

HBO refuses to work with Haymon yet somehow Haymon gets the blame for fights not happening. HBO has Cotto, Canelo, Kova, Ward, GGG, Loma, Walters, Ali, Linares, Chocalito, Bradley, Rios, Crawford, Pacquiao, Matthysse, Lemiuex, Villora, Hopkins, Iman, and the whole roster of K2, GBP, TR, and Roc Nation. How is Haymon stopping those matchups from happening? It was K2 who dismissed Lara as an opponent for GGG, they wouldn't even negotiate a possible fight. We get GGG/Lemiuex on PPV. A fight that should be on regular HBO. HBO refuses to spend money and take a loss in order for good fights to happen. We're already paying $20 a month to subscribe but now you want us to pay $50/$60 to watch a 14/1 underdog fight GGG? That's damn near a showcase fight with those odds.

[bigdunny1]

How is HBO at fault when they literally work with every big and small player in boxing? Their model is pretty clear no matter where the talent comes from they will air it and their history proves it. What they didn't want is be strong armed, extorted and held hostage which is what Haymon tried to do. Their beef with Haymon is he tried to leverage his army of fighters and tell HBO if you do not pay for this blatant mismatch fight with fighter A I will take my fighters B, C and D off your networks. And not only do I want you pay for a for a showcase mismatch type fight but I want you to pay double what the market price is for that fight and I am refusing to sign a contract with you for future fights meaning HBO airs overprice BS fight and has no assurance that the next fight that they are building towards will even air on their network. HBO would be a fool to work under those conditions. That's why they closed their doors on Haymon and look where he ran to, Showtime and look how much a shambles Showtime boxing is in right now.

A few years ago Showtime sold their soul to Haymon to try and compete with HBO and it worked in the short run. They overpaid for bad fights just to keep Haymon happy and so he wouldn't take all his fighters away, they were desperate and wanted to compete with HBO but had no contracts for these fighters and no assurances that fights after the mismatches would be on their network. They recked their brand with fans complaining about these fights (ex Garcia vs Salka) and alienated and ruined business relationships with other promoters and fighters in the process. And Haymon still stabbed them in the back and took all his fighters to PBC. LMAO Now Showtime is in worse shape then they were 2-3 years ago before Haymon.

Haymon has enemies with all the other major promoters, the biggest boxing network in the sport and the list of people and en****** he refuses to work with is long. He's got lawsuits that question if what he is doing is even legal. Meanwhile HBO works with EVERYBODY. And had a deal on the table for the Stevenson vs Kovalev fight before Haymon got involved. Yet HBO is to blame for this mess? Get your head out the sand. This is but one of the many fights Haymon has roadblocked and just one of the many boxing en****** Haymon has beef with. He is the common denominator.

[bigdunny1]

HBO refuses to work with Haymon yet somehow Haymon gets the blame for fights not happening. HBO has Cotto, Canelo, Kova, Ward, GGG, Loma, Walters, Ali, Linares, Chocalito, Bradley, Rios, Crawford, Pacquiao, Matthysse, Lemiuex, Villora, Hopkins, Iman, and the whole roster of K2, GBP, TR, and Roc Nation. How is Haymon stopping those matchups from happening? It was K2 who dismissed Lara as an opponent for GGG, they wouldn't even negotiate a possible fight. We get GGG/Lemiuex on PPV. A fight that should be on regular HBO. HBO refuses to spend money and take a loss in order for good fights to happen. We're already paying $20 a month to subscribe but now you want us to pay $50/$60 to watch a 14/1 underdog fight GGG? That's damn near a showcase fight with those odds.

You sound dumb HBO has made Matthysse vs Ruslan, Cotto vs Kirkland, Klitschko vs Bryant Jennings, Klitschko vs Fury, Cotto vs Canelo, GGG vs Lemieux. News flash none of these are in house promoted fights. That's GB, Top Rank, K2, Roc Nation, Gary Shaw, Frank Warren ect all putting their top fighters up against each other. And that's just a quick list off the top of my head from this year. HBO works with everybody. And besides you and maybe Lara's family members nobody wants to see GGG vs Lara especially not over a unification fight among the 2 most exciting power punchers at 160. Lemiuex fight generates more money and satisfies more fans then any GGG vs Lara could ever imagine. And besides Lara who yaps too much do we even know if Haymon is even interested or more importantly would let Lara fight GGG on HBO? So why negotiate a fight Haymon won't allow in the first place see Kovalev vs Stevenson? Fact is HBO has proved it will make the big fights and work with whoever to do it. Something we can't say for Haymon.

[KTFO]

Fans rooting for champs to lose their belt thru purse bids aren't fans of the sport they're fans of promoters, networks, ect.

I don't trust Duva to make a fair offer. You have to realize her idea of fair is a 50/50 split on a purse bid (which never happens between champs and challengers), fight only on her network. The 50/50 split was agreed to but the insistence of HBO only was ridiculous, it was a purse bid. While Haymon & Stevenson continue to get the blame for the first Stevenson/Kovalev fight not happening the real story is HBO killed the fight. The Showtime deal was given to HBO to match and they refused. The facts of the situation doesn't matter because it doesn't fit the narrative that Stevenson ducked.

HBO refuses to work with Haymon yet somehow Haymon gets the blame for fights not happening. HBO has Cotto, Canelo, Kova, Ward, GGG, Loma, Walters, Ali, Linares, Chocalito, Bradley, Rios, Crawford, Pacquiao, Matthysse, Lemiuex, Villora, Hopkins, Iman, and the whole roster of K2, GBP, TR, and Roc Nation. How is Haymon stopping those matchups from happening? It was K2 who dismissed Lara as an opponent for GGG, they wouldn't even negotiate a possible fight. We get GGG/Lemiuex on PPV. A fight that should be on regular HBO. HBO refuses to spend money and take a loss in order for good fights to happen. We're already paying $20 a month to subscribe but now you want us to pay $50/$60 to watch a 14/1 underdog fight GGG? That's damn near a showcase fight with those odds.

50-50 purse bid was more than fair. Yes, Adonis held the WBC strap and that was indeed the belt up for purse bid, but, Kovalev held the other 3 straps at light heavy which more makes 50-50 fair. I think you should re-read Kathy Duva's interview on that situation, she explains her situation in detail.

[KTFO]

Beterbiev has only has all of *9* professional bouts. For Kovalev to call out a guy with *9* pro bouts is beyond shameful.

The smart thing for Haymon to do here is force Kovalev to vacate the IBF title and have Beterbiev get more fights under his belt against soft opposition until he's ready to challenge the top guys @ 175...

A couple of flaws in your logic. 1) Kova just satisfied his mandatory with the IBF so Artur would have to wait around for a year just to force it. 2) It's about skill level more than X amount of fights as Artur has the pedigree to be a force at 175. 3) Your logic of forcing a vacate/ soft opposition makes you seem like an idiot. Team Beterbiev is on record saying how they beat Kovalev in the amateurs and how they'd beat him again. If they're not ready then don't call out the king of 175.

[about.thousands]

50-50 purse bid was more than fair. Yes, Adonis held the WBC strap and that was indeed the belt up for purse bid, but, Kovalev held the other 3 straps at light heavy which more makes 50-50 fair. I think you should re-read Kathy Duva's interview on that situation, she explains her situation in detail.

50/50 was fair to Kovalev not Stevenson. The WBC purse bid calls for 70/30 but GYM/Stevenson went along she agreed with Duva to do a 50/50 split. Kovalev was also not ranked by the WBC but rules were changed to allow Kovalev to become the mandatory, jumping over every other WBC ranked LHW fighter. The WBC, GYM, & Stevenson all bent over backwards to get this fight done and Duva pulled out after all her demands were agreed to.

[bigdunny1]

50/50 was fair to Kovalev not Stevenson. The WBC purse bid calls for 70/30 but GYM/Stevenson went along she agreed with Duva to do a 50/50 split. Kovalev was also not ranked by the WBC but rules were changed to allow Kovalev to become the mandatory, jumping over every other WBC ranked LHW fighter. The WBC, GYM, & Stevenson all bent over backwards to get this fight done and Duva pulled out after all her demands were agreed to.

You are leaving out the key factor that she has a contract with HBO. The fight can only happen there and the purse bid was sped up because the other side has no intentions of fighting on HBO despite the fact that Stevenson supposedly has no contract with a "promoter" or network. If he is a free agent only signed to Haymon this fight being on HBO should be no issue.

Also if it goes to purse bid there is no guarantee the fight happens. Remember Roc Nation over bid Haymon in a purse bid. But Haymon refused to let his fighter be on a Roc Nation card and forced him to vacate the belt rather then fight an opponent he wanted him to fight. If Duva outbid Haymon we could of seen the same result.

[about.thousands]

Here is the part i don't understand. Haymon and HBO are both trying to do what's best for their business. Haymon has a fiduciary duty to do what's best for his clients/investors. So does HBO. Deals break down all the time because two sides can't come to an agreement that's mutually beneficial, and that's what happened between HBO & Haymon. What doesn't happen all the time is one side refusing to work with the other side because of a agreement that couldn't be reached. When HBO was having secret meetings with Berto (who is managed by & was promoted by DiBella at the time), telling him their plans to make him a star, and arranging for him to fight Mosley (which is illegal btw), Haymon & DiBella would've been well within their rights to sue and leave HBO. But they choose not to and continued to work with HBO. But that did open Haymon's eyes to how HBO does (illegal) business and he started playing hardball. There's so much that goes on behind the scenes that people don't know about or conveniently forget. Haymon doesn't speak to the media and HBO had the full backing of Time Warner affiliates & media members to tell the public what they want them to believe