Sergey Kovalev vs. Artur Beterbiev: Not Happening

Kathy Duva offered Artur Beterbiev a "fair" deal to face Sergey Kovalev on November 28, in Russia.  Beterbiev and his camp have declined the offer. 


The camp said that Beterbiev is coming off of Ramadan and would like another fight before fighting Kovalev.  I think this is a smart move by Beterbiev.  Beterbiev holds two amateur wins over Kovalev, but he still has only 9 professional fights.  I would rather see him get some more experience before stepping in the ring with Sergey Kovalev.

Kathy Duva and Main Events were not to thrilled with this outcome.  They wrote the following response:

You told the media that Beterbiev would take this fight if our offer was fair, which it clearly was. Sergey and I are quite disappointed that you have turned it down without even making a counter-offer. Sergey was in a similar position in 2013: After he won an eliminator to face Bernard Hopkins for the IBF title, he was offered a fight against Nathan Cleverly for the WBO championship immediately. Though a Hopkins fight would have been more lucrative, Sergey would have had to wait for months, during which anything could happen. Without a moment’s hesitation Sergey chose to take the immediate, guaranteed title shot in his opponent’s backyard. 

Of course, Sergey went on to fight Hopkins and unify three light heavyweight belts in a major promotion. As you, yourself, said to a reporter last week, when you get your first title shot, you take it. You say that you want to bury the hatchet [over the ill-fated Kovalev-Adonis Stevenson negotiations, purse bid, etc.], but actions speak louder than words. It seems that you would rather posture and look for purse bids rather than actually make a fight. I hope that I am wrong and you will prove it by at least attempting to negotiate a fight, whether it be for Kovalev to fight Stevenson or Beterbiev. After all, Sergey is the only one contractually bound to a TV network [HBO] and you have never once made an offer to me to make either of these fights that the fans so want to see.

 In the meantime, we will continue to make fights for Sergey against the best fighters who are actually willing to face him. As his star continues to rise, the terms I have offered to you for Beterbiev and Stevenson will not be open for long.

Of course, not to be outdone, this is the response from Yvon Michele and the Beterbiev camp:

Good evening Kathy,

First I wish to thank you again for your offer regarding Beterbiev and the opportunity to fight against Sergey Kovalev in Moscow on November 28. I believe it was a move in the right direction and you have made a honest offer considering the potential resources.
I am confirming to you again the intention for Beterbiev to box against your champion in the very near future.

After our meeting with Artur Beterbiev and his trainer today we have decided it would be best, for the moment, to go into the direction offered yesterday by the IBF and have Artur to fight for the IBF mandatory position.

So right after I send you this message I will write to the IBF that we have accepted to fight for the title eliminatory against Bernard Hopkins.

Please be sure this decision has nothing to do with our past relationship together.  You have proposed to buried the hatchet and we have agreed with you. We wish to continued an open dialog  because there are great fights, between boxers of our 2 organizations, to be made for the benefit of all involved.

Once Beterbiev is having one more fight and becomes the mandatory we would be open to do an immediate fight with the champion in early in 2016. At that moment we are convinced the potential revenues will be much more important then what you can get in November.
Main time we will still try to be creative and find a way, with you, to get Adonis Stevenson and others light heavyweight under our both control, into the mix.

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