With 2017 being the year of unification bouts, it seems, one unification fight that had been in discussion for a long time, Adonis Stevenson vs. Sergey Kovalev, never occurred, and now probably never will happen, according to Kovalev's promoter.
Kathy Duva, who runs Main Events Promotions, spoke to Boxingscene.com about the possibility of a Kovalev vs. Stevenson fight and Duva said the window to make the fight happen is now closed. Duva noted Stevenson's age and alleged constant stalling by promoter Al Haymon as the reason Stevenson vs. Kovalev never occurred.
“As far as Stevenson, if I had a nickel for every time he said he wants the fight, we literally went through everything and then he says [manager] Al [Haymon] said he didn’t want to do it. I think this week he’s 40, so happy birthday Adonis. So he’s 40 and I just don’t know what his future is and I don’t think he does either. That story is sadly played out and gone. It would have been terrific and apparently he didn’t want to make history," Duva said.
Andre Ward recently retired and is expected to vacate the WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles, which could potentially open up the possibility of Kovalev once again fighting for a world title. Kovalev will be back in the ring on November 25 at Madison Square Garden when he faces off against once-beaten Vyacheslav Shabranskyy on an HBO-televised card. Kovalev is hoping to end a two-fight losing streak with both losses coming against Ward.
As for Stevenson, the WBC light heavyweight champion, doesn't have his next fight date set up, but it will likely be against mandatory challenger Eleider Alvarez. That fight had been issued by the WBC since late February. While a fight against Alvarez was still in the works, Stevenson fought Andrzej Fonfara in June, with Stevenson picking up a second-round TKO win, while Alvarez beat Jean Pascal to retain the WBC Silver light heavyweight title.
