By Keith Idec
Kathy Duva doesn’t know where anyone got the idea that Sergey Kovalev would turn down a November 2 fight against Canelo Alvarez.
While a November 2 bout versus Alvarez would represent a quick turnaround for the WBO light heavyweight champion, that date hadn’t even been presented to Kovalev’s promoter as of late Tuesday afternoon. Duva told BoxingScene.com that she hasn’t spoken to Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez since she returned Sunday from Chelyabinsk, Russia, where Kovalev knocked out mandatory challenger Anthony Yarde in the 11th round Saturday night.
“We’re not saying that date doesn’t work,” Duva said. “It’s just that no one has offered us the fight for November 2nd. Unless somebody offers us a fight, Sergey is relaxing with his family. I’m not gonna rush him home from Russia if no one offers us a fight. We haven’t even gotten to where we’d be offered a date.”
Duva, CEO of New Jersey-based Main Events, and Gomez last spoke late in August, when Gomez made one last lucrative offer in an attempt to persuade Kovalev to walk away from what turned out to be a dangerous defense against Yarde. They agreed to talk again about an Alvarez-Kovalev fight if Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs) was able to defeat England’s Yarde (18-1, 17 KOs).
An Alvarez-Kovalev fight, which would require the Mexican middleweight star to move up two weight classes, was first offered to Kovalev for September 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Once Alvarez determined during mid-July that he wouldn’t fight on that date, the Alvarez fight was offered to Kovalev for October 26 at T-Mobile Arena.
Each of those offers would’ve required Kovalev to get Yarde to agree to a seven-figure step-aside fee to allow Alvarez-Kovalev to happen before the then-unbeaten Brit got his title shot.
Time is of the essence yet again because DAZN executives are adamant about Alvarez fighting November 2, not later into November. By having Alvarez appear on DAZN on November 2, his fight would be streamed more than 30 days before the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Anthony Joshua heavyweight championship rematch December 7 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
That’s important to DAZN’s business because it would keep the streaming service’s two biggest stars – Alvarez and Joshua – in separate billing cycles, an important component in maintaining monthly subscribers.
The November 2 date isn’t ideal for the 36-year-old Kovalev because it’d only give him 10 weeks between bouts after a grueling fight against Yarde in which he almost got knocked out late in the eighth round. Duva reiterated, however, that the date it isn’t a deal-breaker.
“Would we like to have a few more weeks?,” Duva said. “Sure, we would. But nobody’s saying we won’t do the fight on that date. Again, no one has even offered us the fight.
“If somebody offers us a fight, we’ll have Sergey checked out, of course. But they have to offer us a fight before I can act on any of this stuff.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.