This letter is from Kathy Duva, from
Main Events. She is addressing
Yvon Michel, Canadian promoter, about the Adonis Stevenson situation.
Dear Yvon,
I am so happy to hear that you are
willing to negotiate. Sergey Kovalev really does want this fight to happen. And
I agree that, after Mayweather-Pacquiao, Kovalev-Stevenson is the most
important and anticipated bout that could occur.
I am pleased to learn that Adonis is
more popular than I had realized. And I wholeheartedly agree that both fighters
should maximize their earning potential for this historic event. Just as the
year's biggest fight will take place on PPV, the platform that delivers more
revenue to fighters than premium cable or broadcast television rights fees, so
should Kovalev-Stevenson.
As you are aware, Sergey's deal with
HBO mirrored the one that was offered to Stevenson, last year. Therefore, you
are also aware that at the end of that deal, HBO possessed a matching right
that was triggered when you arranged for a purse bid to be called prior to the
consummation of Sergey's IBF mandatory. Had you waited for the natural course
of events to unfold, we might be having a very different discussion.
This is a small business, Yvon. And
during the past two weeks I have been hearing what I believe to be credible
rumors that Adonis might fight Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. this summer. Sergey has
had two great fights in a row against two of the world's best light
heavyweights in Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal. So it would be terrific if
Adonis would also get a quality win under his belt before meeting Sergey.
It is well known that Sergey's next
fight will be his IBF mandatory versus Nadjib Mohammedi. Given that you
are in a position to know exactly what is being planned for Adonis' next
fight and I am not, it would have been quite unfair of you to try to lock
Sergey into a purse for Kovalev-Stevenson on the very day before Chavez, Jr. is
scheduled to fight. Obviously, you would have been in a position to
unilaterally affect the value of the Kovalev-Stevenson fight after the fact. So
I am sure you can understand why we must require a deal based upon a 50/50
split of all revenue in order to consummate this deal.
After taking all of this into
consideration, we decided to remain loyal to HBO, the network that has built
every major star in boxing during the past 35 years, including Adonis
Stevenson. Sergey is an HBO fighter; Adonis is a free agent. Therefore, if
Adonis—or anyone else for that matter—wants to fight Sergey Kovalev, they will
have to do it on HBO or through HBO's excellent PPV distribution network.
So I propose that the best solution is
for both of us to sit down with HBO, hear them out and try to make a deal that
is in both fighters' best interests. You will find that HBO is most willing to
make a variety of impressive commitments in order to assure that this event
will be an unqualified success.
Rather than continue to negotiate through
the media, I suggest that we sit down at your earliest convenience, hammer out
a deal, and make this event happen for Sergey, for Adonis and for the
fans.
Best,
Kathy
