Comments Thread For: Stevenson vs. Kovalev: WBC Pushing For The Fight

[wasporbee]

The negotiations are utterly simple; go with whatever conditions put the most money into the pot, to then pay out the fighters the biggest purses possible.

Whatever venue draws the most money, whatever bee sponsors offers up the most money, whatever Mexican channel puts up the most money for the Mexico TV rights, whatever UK channel puts up the most money for the UK TV rights, whatever channel puts up the most money for the US TV rights, etc.

For whatever reason, Kathy Duva doesn't want to maximize the payout for the fighter that she has in the proposed fight. Haymon/GYM have no such problem with looking out for their fighter; until that simple point is acknowledged , this conversation is useless.

You know that's not how purse bids work, right? They don't bid networks or sponsors against each other. Each promoter has a week or two to put together a guarantee to both fighters. The promoters each make one bid and the higher guarantee wins. Anything that the promotion brings in above that guarantee goes to the promoter. The fighters get nothing else and the winning promoter makes every decision. As I understand it, Duva/Kovalev were willing to agree to exactly the scenario you describe, but Haymon/Stevenson wouldn't go for it.

[kennethjohn]

what will happen again. they'll go to purse bid and duva will pull out and everyone will blame stevenson.

[hhs661]

Duva, take the risk of losing the purse bid. Kov will knock Stevenson out within 7 rounds.

[kennethjohn]

Duva, take the risk of losing the purse bid. Kov will knock Stevenson out within 7 rounds.

that could happen I guess. I see this as a tactical fight with stevenson leading early on and losing down the stretch going down. and not doing enough and running a lot. an easy ko could happen but I think steenson is more slick than people give him credit for.


I'll still pick kovalev to win a late ko or 116-111 decision

[Eff Pandas]

If Duva really has got Russian investors she should try to line something up for a purse bid again. As long as HBO is okay with letting the fight happen off HBO if their side loses the purse bid I don't see any reason the fight doesn't go down. I'm sure both fighters would LOVE a purse bid to go down so they can both get paid as good as possible & they don't honestly give a f#ck if Rupert Murdock wins the purse bid & put the fight on after the O'Reilly Factor.

[kej718]

Let's see if they come to the table after the eliminators. When both fighters will have to fight or drop their titles. I think Stevenson would fight Chilemba if he wins, but will Duva allow Kovalev to face Beterbiev who I think is the more dangerous of the 2.

[aboutfkntime]

If you were managing Kovalev you wouldn't want one side to deal with all the promotion. You manage the #1 guy with 3 belts and you get bought out of promotion? Bull****.

They should be able to negotiate instead of Haymon forcing it into a purse bid. Haymon refuses to negotiate with Duva's team and make it seem like Kova and Duva are running when they simply want a fair negotiations instead of a purse bid.

They will all get paid good regardless of what happens, it just should be done at the table not with who has the biggest check to buy the promotion rights.

But they couldn't, and a purse bid is the industry back-stop.

Nothing unfair about a purse-bid.

[aboutfkntime]

It's my understanding that she has the backing of some russian billionaire's that are willing to dish out big bucks to have this fight take place in Russia.

But we have heard all that stuff before.

Have any of those foreign investor fights ever materialized ?

[TheThirdEye]

Kathy Duva & Kovalev could do anything to avoid Stevenson, it wont work this time.

[aboutfkntime]

I would like this to happen also...If Kovalev wins this and ends up fighting Ward at the end of 2016 and wins then he would be regarded by many as the best p4p fighter out there

You bet.

Just a win over Ward would likely achieve that.

I am a Ward fan, and I would love a Kovalev fight, but tbh I really would prefer Kovalev/Stevenson first.

I know that fight would still be there, but with the history and the back-and-forth I still find Kovalev/Stevenson very appealing.

That would be a cracker.

I favor Kova, and I want him to win, but not betting 1 red cent on that fight.