Sergey Kovalev vs. Andrzej Fonfara possible for October or November if Stevenson doesn’t step up

By Boxing News - 05/28/2014 - Comments

kovalev57By Jim Dower: A fight between WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (24-0-1, 22 KO’s) and #1 WBO, #3 WBC, Andrzej Fonfara (25-3, 15 KO’s) is in the words for October or November of this year unless WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson decides he wants to face the hard hitting Kovalev instead of Fonfara, according to RingTV.

Kovalev’s promoter is in discussion with Fonfra’s promoter Leon Margules for the Kovalev-Fonfara fight.

Fonfare recently lost to Stevenson by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night in a surprisingly competitive fight. Fonfara knocked Stevenson down in the 9th round in fight in which Stevenson appeared gassed out in the last part of the fight.

The Kovalev vs. Fonfara fight was initially talked about for August, but it was concluded to be far too soon due to Fonfara’s recent fight against Stevenson. He needs a little more time to rest and get ready for the Kovalev fight than just three months.

If the money is right, Fonfara will take the fight. They just need to agree on the financial picture for the fight to become reality. The fight will be televised on HBO, and it would be ultimately up to them if they’re interested in televising a fight between a fighter that was just beaten in Fonfara and Kovalev. Based on the less than huge ratings the Stevenson-Fonfara fight drew on Showtime last Saturday, which was 672 thoughts viewers, it remains to be seen whether HBO will see a Kovalev-Fonfara fight as one that would appeal to their viewers.

HBO has the potential to reach a wider audience due to their many subscribers, but it’s not a good sign that the Stevenson vs. Fonfara fight didn’t bring in big ratings compared to Stevenson’s previous fight against Tony Bellew last year. That fight brought in 1.3 million viewers on HBO. You can either see that as fans being more interested in the Stevenson-Bellew fight than the Stevenson-Fonfara one, or see it as due to Stevenson reaching less viewers due to him being on Showtime.

A fight between Kovalev and Fonfara would give boxing fans a chance to see the difference between Kovalev and Stevenson, as it would show the fans how these two fighters were able to deal with a common opponent. If Kovalev is able to obliterate Fonfara quickly, it’ll help show fans that he’s the superior fighter to Stevenson. So if Stevenson never decides to fight Kovalev, boxing fans will at least have a good idea who the better fighter of the two is based on how they dealt with the same opponent.



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