By Dan Ambrose: Canada’s Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) won’t be getting an immediate rematch with IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs) next despite the fact that the two of them were involved in an exciting fight last Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
Kovalev stopped a game Pascal in the 8th round when referee Luis Pabon abruptly stopped the fight after a slightly dazed Pascal took two hard right hands to the head from Kovalev.
Pascal said after the fight that he wanted an immediate rematch because he was unhappy with the way the fight was stopped so suddenly by Pabon. However, Kovalev has a mandatory defense he has to get out of the way against his IBF mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi (37-3-1, 23 KOs).
This is something that Kovalev can’t put off against the #1 Mohammedi, because the guy has already twice stepped aside for him. If Kovalev wins that fight, then he could be facing WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson in the fall.
Stevenson’s promoter Yvon Michel is interested in making that fight happen. The World Boxing Council will likely order the fight soon, as Kovalev is now Stevenson’s WBC mandatory challenger after beating Pascal.
“As a fight [Kovalev-Stevenson] of this magnitude demands a long preparation time, you want to be quick. We want to ask the WBC to decide a date,” Stevenson’s promoter Yvon Michel said via RDS.ca. “The only thing that could prevent this fight would be that Stevenson lost to Sakio Bika on April 4th, and that Kovalev were to lose against Nadjib Mohammedi during the mandatory defense of the IBF. Our goal is to fight with Kovalev and we will try to bring this struggle in Quebec in the fall.”
Mohammedi, 30, poses little threat to Kovalev. This is a fighter who is made to order for Kovalev, as Mohammedi is a slow, plodding slugger who is easy to hit. Mohammedi has heavy hands, but he’s really easy to hit, and won’t be hard for Kovalev to find him with his big power shots.
Mohammedi was stopped in the 2nd round by Dmitry Sukhotsky in October of 2011. Mohammedi was also beaten by Nathan Cleverly by a 12 round unanimous decision in December of 2010.
Kovalev will have to get this fight against Mohammedi out of the way this time though, because it’s doubtful that he’ll agree to step aside yet again. It’s a not a difficult fight for Kovalev, so he has no reason to keep putting it off again and again. He needs to get it over with so he can face Stevenson in unification fight.
The 37-year-old Stevenson has a really tough fight on his hands against Bika on April 4th, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Stevenson were to lose that fight. If he can’t KO Bika, then Stevenson is going to find himself in a 12 round war against someone who won’t go away.
This isn’t going to be a simple fight like the ones Stevenson has had recently against the likes of Dmitry Sukhotsky, Andrzej Fonfara, Tony Bellew, Tavoris Cloud, Chad Dawson and Darnell Boone. Bika is easily the toughest opponent that Stevenson has fought during his career, and it wouldn’t be surprising at all if Stevenson winds up getting knocked out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9W0aabPzYo
Bika is playing the role of a spoiler here. Bika wants Stevenson’s WBC title, because it’ll open up big money fights against Kovalev and/or a rematch against Stevenson. If Bika defeats Stevenson then that would temporarily derail a fight between him and Kovalev. It won’t permanently derail the fight, because there are only four popular fighters – Bernard Hopkins, Kovalev, Stevenson and Pascal – in the entire light heavyweight division. It’s not as if Kovalev will move on and never fight Stevenson if he loses to Bika on April 4th. There will still be too much money in a Kovalev-Stevenson fight for Kovalev not look to face him in the future.
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