Comments Thread For: Artur Beterbiev, Sergey Kovalev Eager To Settle Their Old Dispute

[iNixus]

Hes ready, in am he even koed Dorticos the current cruiserweight champs..

[N/A]

So Kovalev petitioned the WBC asking to be installed as Stevenson's mando ... so that he could duck him when the request was granted?

Does that really make sense to you?

Whether it makes sense or not, that is precisely what happened.

Kovalev may have assumed he would be ducked, but when Stevenson refused to duck him, Kovalev refused to accept the very fight he had demanded that the WBC granted under the 50/50 split he had demanded.

He was given everything he asked for and still wouldn't fight Stevenson.

[eco1]

Yikes, he was clearly joking....
You might want to take some time off from the old internet... practice conversing w/ real people...



Anyhow, eager (and hopeful) for this one. Have a feeling it'll take too long to make but who knows...
The only thing for certain is that Stevenson ain't fighting either one of these guys so more opportunity for them to fight each other.

I thought I was doing some sarcasm.
I need to go practice!

LOL.

[kennethjohn]

don't talk about kovalev vs stevenson. it's haymon/gym vs Duva, kovalev is so dillusional he probably thinks he knocks out Joshua in one he isnt ducking anyone he isnt afraid of Stevenson, Stevenson is so ****y he proabbly thinks about the same think he is better than he is.

[chico malo ali]

beterbiev will batter sergay!

[N/A]

Don't bother. He is either biased or ignorant of what happened. Yes Kovalev dropped out of the purse bid... only after Stevenson's team petitioned the WBC to move the purse bid date way up in time to an early date when they knew Kovalev's team would not get the financing to participate in a purse bid until months later.

Everything was set up for the fight to happen, thanks to Team KOVALEV. A purse bid was set. Team KOVALEV was lining up the money from Russia to be able to make a huge bid that would have financed the fight and given both he and Stevenson a monster career high payday. All Team Stevenson had to do IF THEY REALLY WANTED TO FIGHT KOVALEV was sit back and wait for the purse bid date. After that point, Kovalev would have been locked in to fight him. If they were really "chasing" Kovalev, and not vice versa, well, he would have come right into their lap. All they had to do was wait, if that's what they wanted.

But they didn't want that, so they didn't wait. Instead, they manipulated the purse bid date in a way that they KNEW would squash the purse bid and get Kovalev removed from Stevenson's mandatory position.

See, it's the details that matter. Team Stevenson came up with a way to cancel the fight and dodge their mandatory without actually making it look like they were dodging their mandatory. They found a way to put the other side in a position they did not have the money to be in at that current moment so that the other side would have to retreat, instead of them, when in reality it was only the other side which had been attacking and chasing them in the first place the whole time. As you pointed out, it wasn't Stevenson who petitioned to have Kovalev be made his mandatory, it was Kovalev who petitioned to become Stevenson's. It was Team KOVALEV that kept making maneuvers to try to FORCE Stevenson to fight them, and it was Team STEVENSON that kept making maneuvers to either let Stevenson AVOID Kovalev entirely (i.e. declining to fight Kovalev during their shared time at HBO, then moving to Showtime once HBO asked Stevenson to sign a contract that he would eventually fight Kovalev), or to force Team KOVALEV to stop cornering them into a fight.

All of Team KOVALEV'S maneuvers were to try to make the Kovalev-Stevenson fight. All of Team STEVENSON'S maneuvers were to try to prevent Stevenson from having to fight Kovalev. It's that simple, and the proof is in the pudding. Just ask yourself, did rejecting the Kovalev fight numerous times while at HBO in order to fight the likes of Tavoris Cloud, Tony Bellew, and Andrejz Fonfara instead help make Kovalev-Stevenson a reality, or prevent it? Did leaving HBO for Showtime rather than fight Kovalev on HBO first help make Kovalev-Stevenson happen, or prevent it? Did petitioning to move a purse bid date months earlier before even Kovalev's previously scheduled fight had taken place help make Kovalev-Stevenson happen, or prevent it? The record is very clear. Kovalev kept trying to make the fight, Stevenson kept trying to prevent the fight. When people bring up Kovalev pulling out of the purse bid, all they are really doing is praising Stevenson's team for being clever duckers.

But for the record, they weren't so much clever duckers as they were being helped out by the WBC. The WBC has worked hand in hand with Haymon more than anyone else for years. They knew exactly what they were doing when they randomly accepted Stevenson's request to move the purse bid date months in advance, despite the fact that there was nothing wrong with the original date and in fact it made much more sense.

So, people should really do the math by now, and realize what happened. At this point I doubt Stevenson EVER faces a top guy.

You typed a lot of words, but completely ignored the most important fact.

By pushing the purse bid up, it meant it could be held while Kovalev was a TV free agent. Once he signs another exclusive HBO contract, it means HBO can block the fight. The purse bid being moved up meant HBO couldn't block the fight.

Yet, Kovalev still ducked.

[kafkod]

Whether it makes sense or not, that is precisely what happened.

Kovalev may have assumed he would be ducked, but when Stevenson refused to duck him, Kovalev refused to accept the very fight he had demanded that the WBC granted under the 50/50 split he had demanded.

He was given everything he asked for and still wouldn't fight Stevenson.

Kovalev didn't "refuse to accept the fight"

Stevenson's promoter refused to negotiate with Duva and requested an immediate purse bid, knowing that this would force Duva to withdraw Kovalev from his mandatory position and thereby kill the fight.

Blame Duva for being inept or naive, but the facts speak for themselves ... there were three attempts made to get Kovalev and Stevenson into the ring with each other and they all came from Kovalev's side.

He ducked him doe ...

[kafkod]

You typed a lot of words, but completely ignored the most important fact.

By pushing the purse bid up, it meant it could be held while Kovalev was a TV free agent. Once he signs another exclusive HBO contract, it means HBO can block the fight. The purse bid being moved up meant HBO couldn't block the fight.

Yet, Kovalev still ducked.

You must have ducked when the Almighty tried to put a brain into your ****** head!

[ShoulderRoll]

KOVALEV CONTINUES TO DO HIS PART TO MAKE BOXING GREAT AGAIN AND BRING HYPE, INTEREST, RELEVANCE, COMPETITION, GREAT FIGHTS, TITLE OPPORTUNITIES FOR DESERVING CONTENDERS, AND $$ MONEY $$ TO THE LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION.

Who are you kidding? Kovalev can't draw flies to ****.

[kennethjohn]

with a name like boxing logical or signature is the least logical thing in boxing ever.