By Jeff Aranow: Sergey Kovalev has exercised his contract option for a rematch with Eleider Alvarez, but it’s unclear whether HBO will televise the fight. According to Dan Rafael, HBO doesn’t want to pay as much for the Kovalev-Alvarez rematch as they would have if Kovalev had won the fight.
Kovalev is taking a big risk in fighting Alvarez again, because if he loses the fight, it’s career over. Kovalev should think of moving on to face someone that he has a better chance of knocking out in the early going. Unfortunately, Kovalev’s stamina is such that he would be at risk of losing to all of the current world champions at 175. Andre Ward created the blueprint in how to beat Kovalev with his 2 victories over him. Some boxing fans believe that Kovalev’s punch resistance isn’t what it once was since his second defeat at the hands of Ward.
If HBO doesn’t decide to pick-up the Kovalev vs. Alvarez 2 fight at the price that the Krusher’s management want them to, then the fight can be shopped to another network interested enough to televise it. HBO can match the offer from the other network, but it’s unknown if they will. Kovalev has lost three out of his last five fights since 2016, and his career is not looking bright right now as a headliner. By the same token, Alvarez has done very little with his own career in the last three years despite being the mandatory challenger to WBC champion Adonis Stevenson.
Kovalev’s star power has taken a huge hit with his loss to Alvarez last August and his two defeats at the hands of Andre Ward. It’s possible that the ratings for the Kovalev vs. Alvarez rematch would suffer if HBO chooses to pick that fight up. The Canadian based Alvarez isn’t a big name in the U.S with the casual boxing fans, so it’s not a huge deal that he defeated Kovalev like it would if a better known fighter had beaten him. If HBO isn’t committed to the Alvarez vs. Kovalev rematch, then it’s understandable on their part. They would be looking at televising a fight that might not bring in the type of ratings to make it worth showing.
The 35-year-old Kovalev (32-3-1, 28 KOs) lost his World Boxing Organization light heavyweight title last month to Alvarez by a 7th round knockout on August 4 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. HBO televised that fight. As WBO champion, Kovalev had a rematch clause in the contract for that fight, as Alvarez, 34, was a voluntary defense for him and not a mandatory.
“They’re keeping their options open,” Kovalev’s promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events said to ESPN.com. “We’re basically in the middle of negotiations. When we have a deal everyone will know.”
It’ll be interesting to see which network winds up televising the Alvarez vs. Kovalev 2 fight. At this point, it’s unclear whether that fight can bring in high enough ratings for the network that picks up the fight for it to be worthwhile to show.