Comments Thread For: Stevenson To Kovalev: Fight Me and You Won't Be Broke!

[Ravens Fan]

Haymon has the relationship with Stephen Espinoza (CBS/Showtime), therefore he can deliver them what Showtime's interest in the fight is, and Haymon has his PBC project, where he can quote GYM what consideration PBC is willing to offer.

GYM walks into any fight negotiation with Main Events having a good idea what their entire package is expected to look like (prediction on Canadian gate/sponsors/Canadian PPV/US TV money/other international money/etc), what they would expect as a fair share on the negotiations, and how much room they have to go to bid without risking their company too much.

The problem is that GYM did not negotiate and went right to a purse bid, why? I cannot believe that Duva is all that hard to deal with. After all Kovalev has fought two top five fighters in his last three fights without much fuss. I personally also don't blame Duva for pulling out of the automatic purse bid. Who would want to deal with anyone for any reason that wasn't willing to negotiate??

[aboutfkntime]

The problem is that GYM did not negotiate and went right to a purse bid, why? I cannot believe that Duva is all that hard to deal with. After all Kovalev has fought two top five fighters in his last three fights without much fuss. I personally also don't blame Duva for pulling out of the automatic purse bid. Who would want to deal with anyone for any reason that wasn't willing to negotiate??

Come on man, pulling out of a purse-bid means you dont wanna fight.

You dont pull out of a purse bid because you're sulking.

So, Kovalev missed out....., because Duva was miffed at GYM ?

[Ravens Fan]

Come on man, pulling out of a purse-bid means you dont wanna fight.

You dont pull out of a purse bid because you're sulking.

So, Kovalev missed out....., because Duva was miffed at GYM ?

When Duva pulled out of the purse bid she said a whole lot of things that honestly didn't make a lot of sense to me personally. But they also don't have to. Because I am not in business and I really have little to no interest in the business end of boxing. Why? Because its boring.

With that said the one thing that she did say when she pulled out of the purse bid was that here was no need for it. She believed that a deal could have been reached by negotiating which never took place. I also don't know Duva personally but I assume it's possible she was sulking about it.

She also stated that there was no choice the fight had to be HBO. I don't have any idea if that statement was true. But Main Events was obviously negotiating with HBO. So is it not possible that HBO stipulated that the fight had to be on their network as part of the new unsigned contract?

After all isn't it just common sense that HBO would want the biggest fight of his career to be shown on their network? Simply because HBO already had an investment in Kovalev. As far as them not wanting the fight comment that is just a bunch of baloney.

After all it is PBC who has earned the reputation of setting up easy fights for their fighters. And you can split hairs and twist it anyway you wish but you still can't duck that fact.

[Scipio2009]

Exactly, so its more bums for less money. I understand, he won his first title at 36, is vulnerable and wants to milk it some more.

BTW why do you throw around bogus figures, esp around me? You know you'll get called on it. At least it's progress, 2 days ago Stevenson was gonna "split 4-5m with Karpency". Or is Karpency getting 1-2m, depending on Ppv upside lol

Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto seats 10.5k people, the disclosed payouts for the PBC on SpikeTV (Friday Night Lights Out) have been around $2m, and Stevenson-Karpency will be carried in Canada on PPV. And that's just the obvious revenue (event sponsors, international TV rights, etc all add money to the pot). The math isn't that difficult [$2m from PBC, $500k from the live gate, $3m from Canadian PPV, plus share from event sponsor, etc]

Beyond that, I doubt that Karpency, were he to even get split into the full pot, would even get a 10/90 split, lol.

And, in terms of all this "bum" talk, Kovalev isn't even expected to fight someone at even Karpency's level for his next fight, so what's your point?

Should try harder next time

[Scipio2009]

The problem is that GYM did not negotiate and went right to a purse bid, why? I cannot believe that Duva is all that hard to deal with. After all Kovalev has fought two top five fighters in his last three fights without much fuss. I personally also don't blame Duva for pulling out of the automatic purse bid. Who would want to deal with anyone for any reason that wasn't willing to negotiate??

Why negotiate when the lines of discussion are already pretty well known?

Michel has no business with HBO, Duva has no business with Showtime, and Duva's lawsuit against Stevenson/Michel/Haymon probably didn't do much to engender good feelings among everyone.

Rather than waste the two months, posturing about negotiations before "negotiating" and having the failed talks lead to a bid, Michel simply wanted to cut the bull****. GYM determines what they're ready to spend, Main Events determines what they're ready to spend, and the fight gets set up (fight gets agreed to in principle, Kovalev can have his mandatory against Mohammedi, and the fight gets finalized as long as Kovalev wins).

That didn't happen. Duva thought she'd pushed GYM/Stevenson into a tough spot, realized that they were happy to have the fight, and then ran away once she realized that she wasn't positioned to have the fight on her terms.

Beyond that, the "fought two top five fighters in his last three fights without much fuss" needs to be understood in context. Hopkins-Kovalev happened because Main Events gave 75% of the take to Bernard Hopkins and Kovalev-Pascal happened because Main Events happily split the pot near 50/50 with a mandatory challenger (even with Kovalev having the other three belts at 175).

If Duva really wanted this fight as badly as she claimed, the way to the fight was laid plain for her.

[Scipio2009]

When Duva pulled out of the purse bid she said a whole lot of things that honestly didn't make a lot of sense to me personally. But they also don't have to. Because I am not in business and I really have little to no interest in the business end of boxing. Why? Because its boring.

With that said the one thing that she did say when she pulled out of the purse bid was that here was no need for it. She believed that a deal could have been reached by negotiating which never took place. I also don't know Duva personally but I assume it's possible she was sulking about it.

She also stated that there was no choice the fight had to be HBO. I don't have any idea if that statement was true. But Main Events was obviously negotiating with HBO. So is it not possible that HBO stipulated that the fight had to be on their network as part of the new unsigned contract?

After all isn't it just common sense that HBO would want the biggest fight of his career to be shown on their network? Simply because HBO already had an investment in Kovalev. As far as them not wanting the fight comment that is just a bunch of baloney.

After all it is PBC who has earned the reputation of setting up easy fights for their fighters. And you can split hairs and twist it anyway you wish but you still can't duck that fact.

Duva got the opportunity to fight Pascal for the mandatory position, from what I recall, because she was able to convince the WBC that Kovalev was finishing up his obligation to HBO and was to be in a position to negotiate a fight in full good faith.

If Duva secured the position under false pretenses (telling the WBC that she was free to negotiate in good faith, knowing full well that her aim was to only deal with HBO), that makes her look even worse.

[Ravens Fan]

Duva got the opportunity to fight Pascal for the mandatory position, from what I recall, because she was able to convince the WBC that Kovalev was finishing up his obligation to HBO and was to be in a position to negotiate a fight in full good faith.

If Duva secured the position under false pretenses (telling the WBC that she was free to negotiate in good faith, knowing full well that her aim was to only deal with HBO), that makes her look even worse.

I am tying all this together so I don't have to answer twice. You asked, "Why negotiate?" Simply because that is how things get done.

From my own personal experience I have never not negotiated when there was an opportunity to do so. When I bought my house, I negotiated. When I purchased my cars or motorcycles, I negotiated. When I went in the army I negotiated a contract. When I got divorced I negotiated. When I go to the flea market on Sunday I negotiate over everything that I hope to buy. If they would have told me that there are no negotiations I would have simply taken my money elsewhere.

With that said. I believe that the information you posted about the Bhop and Pascal fights actually goes along way to proving my point. And what was my point? That Main Events is obviously easy to work with when they have the opportunity to negotiate. Main Events negotiated and go figure the Bhop and Pascal fights got made.

I will also ask again why would Duva basically cut her own throat by letting it go to purse bid, especially without the opportunity to negotiate? After all it is obvious that Kovalev is her meal ticket. I will also say this again it is also obvious to me that Kovalev is loyal to Duva and possibly even to a fault.

But you are certainly free to continue to pretend that you know what would have happened if they had in fact negotiated. However, in reality, I don't know and you certainly don't know matter of fact neither GYM nor Main Events or even Al Haymon himself could possibly know what would have happened. Simply because they never took place.

As for questioning how honest Duva may have been about the situation who knows? With that said I am sure she wasn't completely honest. After all she is a boxing promoter. And I don't believe that it is any kind of a revelation that they aren't always the most honest in the sports world. But that is why in my opinion they have something called negotiations.

I can also play the guessing game. Because for all we know they could have negotiated and the fight may have ended up on Showtime, but once again will never know for sure what would have transpired. And just maybe its not always about the most money that could be made. If you want a recent example look no further then the Wlad-Fury negotiations.

In closing I would like to touch on the fact of this newly acquired concern that so many fans seem to be having with the money fighters are making.

Don't get me wrong I can understand Mayweather's astronomical purses being a topic of discussion. I also clearly remember when Ali-Foreman split $5 million or was it they got $5 million a piece? What ever it was it was a big deal at the time.
My point being is that I hope that they make good money but honestly when it comes right down to it I really don't care.

Matter of fact the only time I am ever overly concerned about any athletes salary is usually only when and how it affects the salary cap of the Baltimore Ravens. With that said this topic has gotten way to much time and also rather boring and I hope I am now done with it.

[cReal Killer]

How the fcuk did you idiot turn this to be about GGG and SOB The King Of 172? But hey, at least we agree on the actual topic here.

Wondering the same thing, this idiot mentions GGG more than his fans, talk about being obsessed. He thinks that LHWs can protect Cotto from GGG, lol.

[TheThirdEye]

I am tying all this together so I don't have to answer twice. You asked, "Why negotiate?" Simply because that is how things get done.

From my own personal experience I have never not negotiated when there was an opportunity to do so. When I bought my house, I negotiated. When I purchased my cars or motorcycles, I negotiated. When I went in the army I negotiated a contract. When I got divorced I negotiated. When I go to the flea market on Sunday I negotiate over everything that I hope to buy. If they would have told me that there are no negotiations I would have simply taken my money elsewhere.

With that said. I believe that the information you posted about the Bhop and Pascal fights actually goes along way to proving my point. And what was my point? That Main Events is obviously easy to work with when they have the opportunity to negotiate. Main Events negotiated and go figure the Bhop and Pascal fights got made.

I will also ask again why would Duva basically cut her own throat by letting it go to purse bid, especially without the opportunity to negotiate? After all it is obvious that Kovalev is her meal ticket. I will also say this again it is also obvious to me that Kovalev is loyal to Duva and possibly even to a fault.

But you are certainly free to continue to pretend that you know what would have happened if they had in fact negotiated. However, in reality, I don't know and you certainly don't know matter of fact neither GYM nor Main Events or even Al Haymon himself could possibly know what would have happened. Simply because they never took place.

As for questioning how honest Duva may have been about the situation who knows? With that said I am sure she wasn't completely honest. After all she is a boxing promoter. And I don't believe that it is any kind of a revelation that they aren't always the most honest in the sports world. But that is why in my opinion they have something called negotiations.

I can also play the guessing game. Because for all we know they could have negotiated and the fight may have ended up on Showtime, but once again will never know for sure what would have transpired. And just maybe its not always about the most money that could be made. If you want a recent example look no further then the Wlad-Fury negotiations.

In closing I would like to touch on the fact of this newly acquired concern that so many fans seem to be having with the money fighters are making.

Don't get me wrong I can understand Mayweather's astronomical purses being a topic of discussion. I also clearly remember when Ali-Foreman split $5 million or was it they got $5 million a piece? What ever it was it was a big deal at the time.
My point being is that I hope that they make good money but honestly when it comes right down to it I really don't care.

Matter of fact the only time I am ever overly concerned about any athletes salary is usually only when and how it affects the salary cap of the Baltimore Ravens. With that said this topic has gotten way to much time and also rather boring and I hope I am now done with it.

After all the facts you've read lately, about how Kovalev is the one ducking; you still manage to dig deeper to find a weak technical point to save your face.
Originally Posted by Ravens Fan: «When Duva pulled out of the purse bid she said a whole lot of things that honestly didn't make a lot of sense to me personally.»

At least, it's good to see that you understand things, and as a lawyer defending a guilty client, it wouldn't be in your advantage to compromise your previous pro-Kovalev postings by giving benefit to the truth, a truth you see but never wanted to admit.
You, others and I, know how bad a liar Mama Duva is; With your poor «Negotiation» argument. Remember:
Adonis Stevenson accepted the offer of Showtime on 03/25/2014.
And Before Kovalev fought Agnew on 03/29/2015, Team Duva agree to sign Kovalev under his first deal with HBO. So in fact, Kovalev signed his deal with HBO (AFTER) Stevenson went to Showtime, I didn't say before, I said Kovalev signed AFTER.
So why 10 days after B-Hop won his second title against Shumenov, on 04/29/2014 Mama Duva decided to sued Showtime, Golden Boy & Al Haymon, which have no business with this non sign contract.
1) Because Kathy Duva conflict demonstration is ultimately blocking all her boxers to do any business with Al Haymon and Showtime.
2) Also to persuade HBO she was not lying when she told them the contract was already setup between Adonis Stevenson & Sergey Kovalev.
3) And most of all, to plot a settlement under table with Golden Boy for dropping this phony lawsuit in exchange of an unification bout between Hopkins and her protege Kovalev, instead of Stevenson.
This Lawsuit got dropped on 08/04/2014, one day after Hopkins and Kovalev reached an agreement to unify their titles. Golden Boy team weren't bright enough to realise this lawsuit was going nowhere, otherwise HBO would have backed up this phony complaint.

Kovalev had the WBO, which is not required to become Undisputed Champion, but Hopkins had the IBF & the WBA on the tip of his fingers. So Stevenson followed the titles after HBO failed to match Showtime financial offer. And DeLahoya's puppet Hopkins; crossed boat for less money leaving Stevenson's predestined belts to Kovalev. Which is the reason why Stevenson finds a higher interest in Kovalev now. Kovalev has gain more value & both became the keys for unlocking the Undisputed Champion title.
When PBC got launch, Stevenson had adjusted his contract with Showtime to have the freedom to present himself on any other networks, like most Haymon's boxers. A purse bid would have offered a minimum of 10 millions EASY for each boxers, instead of a low purse of 3.5 million each offered by HBO. Then, since Kathy Duva went to the WBC convention on last december, asking the WBC to position Kovalev as mandatory to Stevenson, all the stars were perfectly aligned for an historical showdown to determine the undisputed king of this division. And lets see how this Witch reacted once she'd realise that Stevenson and Yvon Michel were more than happy to make that fight happen.
1) 03/14/2015 Duva says Kovalev just released from an HBO exclusivity contract after the Jean Pascal fight.
2) 04/17/2015 Duva says Kovalev just sign a new contract, when the WBC ordered the purse bid. (lies)
3) 05/13/2015 Duva says on twitter, Kovalev never re-sign any contract, but Kovalev was still under an exclusivity arrangement with HBO. (excuses)
4) 05/18/2015 Duva says Kovalev just sign up a new contract with HBO which garanty him 1 fight each 3 months.
Not to mention that team Kovalev also rejected the secondary WBC purse bid, on 05/29/2015.

I don't know how you can still convince yourself with all her cheating actions, thinking she really wanted to «Negotiate». She has what she determined was in the best interest of her company, which was HBO attention to reconsider Kovalev value, and re-signed him under a more lucrative TV contract. There was nothing to do with the matchup she required and declined because they failed to settle a «so called» friendly agreement, she naively thought Stevenson would've vacate his title or get stripped from it by refusing to fight Kovalev. It was a Bluff, like her bogus lawsuit.
Kathy Duva is a smart lawyer and a low class manipulative liar. Look, team Kove/Duva build up Kovalev's reputation by making the audience believe Stevenson was running away from him, when in facts, since Kovalev gained Hopkins belts, they no longer want any part of a pissed off Stevenson. Which they used to maximize Kovalev reputation for almost 2 years. An angry Stevenson would make Kovalev choke by swallowing his own mouthpiece.

[kej718]

A purse bid solves so many problems and only 1 side is not showing up. (Duva)
Haymon will get both fighters more money then they have made their whole careers, and the fans can get the fight on NBC (Kovalev fought here before right), or ESPN (Just add Max Kellerman to the broadcast team).

Haymon is not the problem HBO is.

Who do you think has a better chance of losing their belts first?
I think Beterbiev because he can get a title shot faster.

What happens when that goes to a purse bid.