Comments Thread For: HBO Passes on Stevenson-Fonfara; Open to Kovalev Bout

[joseph5620]

Are you trying to say he wouldnt make more money against Kovalev than Fonfara?

I dont know Haymons deal but before he was ever in the picture, Adonis had a chance to fight Kovalev, which would certainly pay him more, but he chose Fonfara. Clearly Adonis doesnt care about money, otherwise he would have fought Kovalev. Oh wait but now he does!!

You're oversimplifying it. I don't know if you have read the tweets from Dan Rafael but it seems HBO dropped the ball. And it's all about money and a multi fight contract. The "signing with Haymon to duck" theory is silly.


Dan Rafael ***8207;@danrafaelespn 1h
By letting the deal sit for close to 2 months, it gave haymon time to sign Stevenson and then go to Showtime for more $.

[rws25]

BUT, boxing isnt just a business, its a sport - that means having the best face the best to determine the #1 fighter in the world. Unfortunately, this rarely happens anymore (May v. Pac, Martinez v. GGG, Donaire v Mares, now Stevenson v. Kovalev). Of course fighters should try to make as much $ as they can. But not at the expense of defending your title against the legit # 1 contender. and they are both titlists, but Steveson is the lineal Champ. If he wants to fight Bhop or Froch first to make a little money - ok. But to fight fonfara first, then someone else - it just seems that he wants no piece of Kovalev

You tell me a professional sport that doesn't come first as a business? Also tell me a professional sport where TV Networks work hand in hand? $ comes first, it might be hard for you to digest, but thats the truth when it comes to sports.

[Russian Crushin]

You're oversimplifying it. I don't know if you have read the tweets from Dan Rafael but it seems HBO dropped the ball. And it's all about money and a multi fight contract. The "signing with Haymon to duck" theory is silly.


Dan Rafael ***8207;@danrafaelespn 1h
By letting the deal sit for close to 2 months, it gave haymon time to sign Stevenson and then go to Showtime for more $.

Thats not that point im making. Im mad that the Kovalev fight didnt happen instead of Fonfara. The fans were fooled to stay calm while stevenson fights a lesser fight in fonfara (for less money) and would def face Kovalev next. Well here we are

Clearly its not all about money, otherwise he would have fought Kovalev instead of fonafara

[Beercules]

Ok I'm drunk as hell; can someone explain to me what's happening

[joseph5620]

Thats not that point im making. Im mad that the Kovalev fight didnt happen instead of Fonfara. The fans were fooled to stay calm while stevenson fights a lesser fight in fonfara for more money and would def face Kovalev next. Well here we are

Clearly its not all about money, otherwise he would have fought Kovalev instead of Stevenson

Fair enough. Believe me, from my point of view I'm disappointed because I believed the fight was a lock to happen this year. But I'm still going to wait to see what happens in the fall.

[-MAKAVELLI-]

Ok I'm drunk as hell; can someone explain to me what's happening

Adonis is set to fight Fonfara
Kovalev is set to fight Agnew this weekend

if they both win, then HBO sets up the showdown


the Adonis-Fonfana fight wasn't finalized yet..this is where HBO dropped the ball...they let the offer sit for 2months...sometime last week or so, Stevenson signed with Haymon


they then asked for more money for the Fonfara fight withOUT an assurance that he would fight Kovalev next...HBO told them to go **** themselves


Al Haymon is now taking Stevenson-Fonfara to Showtime and pretty much killing a would be fight with Kovalev

[superchamp]

My understanding is that HBO paid Ward $2M to fight Rodriguez, and Rodriguez turned down his original offer of $800k and ended up getting more.

I think they have been low balling Stevenson (and Kovalev and Golovkin) considering Ward's TV ratings are not great, and Stevenson and Haymon realize that.

HBO sets the market price for fights. If they are willing to pay so much for one fight, they look like hypocrites when they refuse to pay that much for other fights that bring the same (or better) ratings.

Kovalev and Golovkin seem content to get whatever money they are given, as they don't have great fanbases, but Stevenson and his team realize that they are getting low balled and have some leverage (he is a big attraction in Quebec and has options).

I'm disappointed that this could mean we don't see Stevenson-Kovalev anytime soon, but HBO needs to be consistent in what they pay, or are willing to pay for fights.

Why should Stevenson accept less so that HBO can use his fights to subsidize other showcase fights? Same goes for Golovkin and Kovalev, etc.

HBO brought this on themselves.

[rogdogx]

there is no reason for hbo to pay for a stevenson exhibition win against fonfara. if they insist on him fighting kovalev to get paid i have no problem with that whatsoever. start demanding these fighters fight the best of else make them fight cheap. this will get us the fights we want. if hbo keeps this up they will continue to spread the gap with showtime. showtime is following up their strongest year in 2013 with one of the weakest in 2014.

[davidw9785]

I dunno, this kinda seems like a chess move to me. Sign with Al, have his new team approach HBO with a signifigant raise in requested amount knowing they will get denied, go to Showtime for this fight and now have HBO's attention leading into a potential fall clash with Kovalev. Know HBO is not willing to fork up the big $ for him vs Fonrara, but they most likely will for Kovalev, and asking for more $ prior to than gives him a better chance at getting a bigger payday to fight Kovalev than would have been the case before. Y'all don't read between the lines.. just read the lines and start spewing your nonsense. If you ask me, this is him setting up to get a bigger piece of the pie from HBO to fight Kovalev.

Do Haymon fighters get fights on HBO tho?? (This is a legit question, I don't know). It seems like Haymon and his fighters have taken sides with GBP and Showtime. There's another article on here where Duva (Kovalev's manager) is saying that Stevenson closed the door on a Kovalev fight by signing with Haymon. I got the impression that once you are a Haymon fighter, you're now a GBP/Showtime fighter.

[JJRod]

there is no reason for hbo to pay for a stevenson exhibition win against fonfara. if they insist on him fighting kovalev to get paid i have no problem with that whatsoever. start demanding these fighters fight the best of else make them fight cheap. this will get us the fights we want. if hbo keeps this up they will continue to spread the gap with showtime. showtime is following up their strongest year in 2013 with one of the weakest in 2014.

I agree with this. The problem is HBO had agreed to let him fight Fonfara and then set up the Kovalev fight.
If HBO had stuck to it's guns from the get go we probably would be looking at a May fight between the two.