We’re a month away from one of the most intriguing fights of the year, the Bernard Hopkins vs. Sergey Kovalev clash slated for November 8th, televised on HBO from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Hopkins vs. Kovalev got put together in large part because the much hoped for clash between Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson failed to come to fruition. The two knockout artists, Krusher and Superman, co-headlined an event as a buildup to a fight between them. After that though, Stevenson bolted for Showtime, leaving fight fans, and Kovalev, in the lurch.
“The Alien”, Bernard Hopkins, is never one to shy away from a challenge. At nearly half a century old, Hopkins stepped up to the plate to face Kovalev. Even though Hopkins, too, has been fighting on Showtime, the Hopkins-Kovalev bout will be on HBO.
It was yet another signal of hopefully brighter times to come, with Golden Boy and HBO once again doing business. Canelo Alvarez would then sign on with HBO.
Recently though, Stevenson declared that he’ll be ringside for the Hopkins-Kovalev fight, and that not only that, he’ll be facing the winner next. He also said, at least inadvertently via a hashtag of #showtime, that the fight will be on Showtime, his new television home. That is plausible enough if Hopkins wins, and surely, Stevenson would prefer to face Hopkins either way. That’s why he went to Showtime to begin with, to find a route towards facing Hopkins and not Kovalev.
I will be ring side on November 8 for the fight of Bernard Hopkins vs Sergey Kovalev. I will fight the winner… http://t.co/VFcTzrnKSz— Adonis Stevenson (@AdonisSuperman) October 8, 2014
Yet, if Kovalev wins, after all the past contentiousness, it doesn’t seem likely that his team would sign up for the fight to be on Showtime. I don’t know yet what the behind the scenes negotiations on this have been, but perhaps all the sides have struck a deal that hasn’t been officially announced.
We’ll have to wait and see. Stevenson taking on the winner of Hopkins vs. Kovalev would be excellent, although the
recent past history that we’ve seen makes it perhaps more unlikely than we’d like.
