By Luke Furman
Earlier this month, IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (13-0, 13 KOs) expressed his interest in a potential unification with Sergey Kovalev, who recently reclaimed the WBO world title with a dominant twelve round unanimous decision over Eleider Alvarez.
Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 KOs), who last August was knocked out by Alvarez in seven rounds, is now back in the mix with the very best at 175.
"Now he has a belt," Beterbiev said to TVA Sports. "I also have a belt. This is the right time to do a unification fight. Come on, let's do it. Let's do it, Kovalev."
Kovalev has answered the call - and he's more than ready to fight Beterbiev, and wants to make that fight happen in May.
"I want to make my next fight as early as possible. And the actual possible date of the fight, is in the month of May. The fight with Beterbiev is the most expected and one of the most interesting fights for boxing fans and for myself," Kovalev stated.
"In my interview in the ring after the fight [with Alvarez], I called out my desired opponents, and if any of the boxing fans missed this interview, then you have the opportunity to find it on Youtube. [Me and my team] have a plan, I am ready to enter the ring against any light heavyweight fighter, including Artur Beterbiev.
"If my team deems it necessary, the fight in May will be against him. If our plan does not include the May fight against Artur, then it will happen later on. But this fight will definitely come, I assure you.
The two Russian fighters have a rivalry that's played out for a long time.
Beterbiev twice defeated Kovalev when they were at the amateur level.
Kovalev claims that he was robbed in both fights - which is something Beterbiev disputes.
In the past, there were also political walls that prevented their showdown.
That is no longer the case, because both boxers have multi-fight agreements with Top Rank - which allows them to collide on ESPN.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org
