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Duva's jumped the gun before with Stevenson. As for Ward, of course RN wants this deal, they're losing $2mill and more each time he fights otherwise. But most likely Ward will get mad and walk away from the HBO deal saying he's not going to be forced into anything because he's earned the right to do what he wants.
http://******.craveonline.com/news/3...kovalev-on-tap
It was back in October that Main Events' President Kathy Duva projected that her fighter, Sergey Kovalev, and Canada's Adonis Stevenson, were "destined to fight each other at some point.”
That was a month before Kovalev defended his WBO light heavyweight belt with a second-round knockout of Ismayl Sillakh on the Nov. 30 undercard of Stevenson's sixth-round knockout of Tony Bellew in defense of his RING and WBC championships.
Kovalev-Sillakh and Stevenson-Bellew were televised on HBO from The Pepsi Colesium in Quebec City.
Now it appears that Duva may be prophetic, assuming Kovalev (23-0-1, 21 knockouts) gets beyond a planned March 29 defense against Chicago's Cedric Agnew (26-0, 13 KOs) at The Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, and Stevenson (23-1, 20 KOs), a targeted May 24 bout against Chicago-based Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KOs) from Bell Centre in Montreal.
"We are looking at the end of the summer or early fall. One of the two if we are able to come to an agreement. Behind [Manny] Pacquiao-[Floyd] Mayweather, for anticipation, I consider that fight to be next," said Stevenson's promoter, Yvon Michel.
"Hopefully, we are going to be able to come to terms. I can say at this point that I have had good conversations with Kathy Duva. Adonis wants that fight, Kovalev seems to have the same motivation. HBO's very excited about it, so hopefully there will be no roadblocks, and we can move forward."
Michel told ******.com on Friday that he anticipated a meeting with Fonfara's promoter, Leon Margules, of Warriors' Boxing, "sometime next week," and on Tuesday, Michel was in Florida to do just that.
Duva said the "deal is not done" for the fight with Agnew, "but I hope that we will have some news to report soon."
Meawhile, Duva and Michel are in negotiations with HBO to set up a fall clash with Kovalev that Jim Lampley has called "a dream matchup."
"We are negotiating with Yvon Michel and HBO for a multi-fight deal, culminating with Kovalev vs. Stevenson," said Duva, in an e-mail to ******.com. "Talks are still ongoing, but I am feeling optimistic."
Michel said Stevenson-Kovalev has the potential for happening in a number of locations.
"Montreal is Adonis' home base, but I have people from Toronto and Las Vegas who have contacted me. So, we'll see what is going to be the best place," said Michel. "With Adonis, I believe that his reputation and his popularity have grown, so we might have possibility of having a choice, which is very, very interesting."
A 30-year-old puncher from Chelaybinsk, Russia, Kovalev is 11-0-1 with 11 stoppage victories in his past 12 bouts. Bellew represented the 10th straight knockout for Stevenson and the fourth of 2013 for the 36-year-old southpaw.
"As Adonis said not long ago, he has plans to fight three times this year, which include a unification WBC-WBO against Kovalev," said Michel.
"The goal in 2014 for 'Superman' is to prove his supremacy in the light heavyweight division, to get the honor again for Fighter of the Year, to be consider in the top five pound-for-pound list and be the number one most spectacular and feared fighter in boxing."
That was a month before Kovalev defended his WBO light heavyweight belt with a second-round knockout of Ismayl Sillakh on the Nov. 30 undercard of Stevenson's sixth-round knockout of Tony Bellew in defense of his RING and WBC championships.
Kovalev-Sillakh and Stevenson-Bellew were televised on HBO from The Pepsi Colesium in Quebec City.
Now it appears that Duva may be prophetic, assuming Kovalev (23-0-1, 21 knockouts) gets beyond a planned March 29 defense against Chicago's Cedric Agnew (26-0, 13 KOs) at The Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, and Stevenson (23-1, 20 KOs), a targeted May 24 bout against Chicago-based Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KOs) from Bell Centre in Montreal.
"We are looking at the end of the summer or early fall. One of the two if we are able to come to an agreement. Behind [Manny] Pacquiao-[Floyd] Mayweather, for anticipation, I consider that fight to be next," said Stevenson's promoter, Yvon Michel.
"Hopefully, we are going to be able to come to terms. I can say at this point that I have had good conversations with Kathy Duva. Adonis wants that fight, Kovalev seems to have the same motivation. HBO's very excited about it, so hopefully there will be no roadblocks, and we can move forward."
Michel told ******.com on Friday that he anticipated a meeting with Fonfara's promoter, Leon Margules, of Warriors' Boxing, "sometime next week," and on Tuesday, Michel was in Florida to do just that.
Duva said the "deal is not done" for the fight with Agnew, "but I hope that we will have some news to report soon."
Meawhile, Duva and Michel are in negotiations with HBO to set up a fall clash with Kovalev that Jim Lampley has called "a dream matchup."
"We are negotiating with Yvon Michel and HBO for a multi-fight deal, culminating with Kovalev vs. Stevenson," said Duva, in an e-mail to ******.com. "Talks are still ongoing, but I am feeling optimistic."
Michel said Stevenson-Kovalev has the potential for happening in a number of locations.
"Montreal is Adonis' home base, but I have people from Toronto and Las Vegas who have contacted me. So, we'll see what is going to be the best place," said Michel. "With Adonis, I believe that his reputation and his popularity have grown, so we might have possibility of having a choice, which is very, very interesting."
A 30-year-old puncher from Chelaybinsk, Russia, Kovalev is 11-0-1 with 11 stoppage victories in his past 12 bouts. Bellew represented the 10th straight knockout for Stevenson and the fourth of 2013 for the 36-year-old southpaw.
"As Adonis said not long ago, he has plans to fight three times this year, which include a unification WBC-WBO against Kovalev," said Michel.
"The goal in 2014 for 'Superman' is to prove his supremacy in the light heavyweight division, to get the honor again for Fighter of the Year, to be consider in the top five pound-for-pound list and be the number one most spectacular and feared fighter in boxing."
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