Duva makes no sense (Beterbiev-Berrera)

Haymon was willing to put up 5-10 million for Stevenson-Kovalev. He did put up 3.1 for a far less significant Dirrell-DeGale fight. Even repeating a bid of that amount would net Beterbiev more than the $500,000 Main Events put up for this fight. Of course if Kovalev vacates out of "network loyalty" he won't necessarily get that money, but surely that would constitute more of a duck than Beterbiev turning down this last fight.

 

Purse bid that will not happen because Kovalev is tied to HBO.

 

Then Kovalev will have to give up his belt. And Kovalev, HBO, and Main Events would deserve as much opprobrium as Haymon and Quillin received for the Korobov situation.

 

No, Beterbiev will deserve the "opprobrium" because he's weaseled his way to a paper title when he could have fought for three, they know what they're doing and so do you.

I can already see the "Kovalev is ducking Beterbiev guys.." threads incoming from hardcore Haymon supporters such as yourself. Total hilarity.

 

Nope, all I cafe about is consistency. Ducking accusations either are applicable to both sides I like and dislike or they're invalid altogether.

If Kovalev's representation force him to give up a belt and walk away from what in all likelihood be a career high payday then yes, indeed, it would be the same as the Quillin situation. The only reason the initial offer to Beterbiev was even made was because Duva knew this was coming, but it does allow hardcore Main Events apologists to pretend everyone else is ducking as they repeatedly and of their own volition walk away from purse bids.

 

I don't even like Main Events, I think it's a shoddy promotion suit and Duva is incompetent (she was lucky that Hopkins and Pascal even got into the ring with Kovalev of their own will, imagine if they didn't want to fight him...). I think they should receive criticism for avoiding purse bids.

But everyone knows that Kovalev is tied to HBO and so do they, they know he won't fight off that network, so instead of taking what they said is a reasonable sum and a chance to fight for three belts, they're taking advantage of the situation to avoid him.

This isn't what I expect from nothing more than a contender with less than 10 fights.. Usually, the champion avoids a dangerous challenger, in this case it's the reverse.

 

They can only "take advantage of the situation" to the extent that HBO and Main Events allow them to. You know what's better than fighting for 3 belts for a reasonable offer? Fighting for 3 belts for an even greater amount of money. That of course only fails to happen in the event that Kovalev's team elects not to allow it.

HBO was the same network that had Lampley crying at the end of his show last year that Haymon was just scuffling fights the fans wanted left and right and only ever wanted things on his own terms. How, pray tell, would their actions be any different if they were to force Kovalev to give up a belt simply because they were unwilling or unable to secure financial control of the fight and would not let him fight off-network?

Main Events was the same promotion that led the fans in a fury about the failure of Kovalev-Stevenson to take place for a full year and acted like they were concerned about "the good of boxing." How exactly is taking your ball and going home because you cannot win a purse bid for the good of boxing? Why was their reasonable offer a must-accept for Beterbiev, but the likely greater purse generated when he's the mandatory not worth pursuing? How exactly does anything they've done this entire time indicate a greater willingness to cede control for this precious good of the sport than Haymon?

And lest you think I'm simply changing my stance based on what Beterbiev, it was clear this was coming from a mile away when the offer was first made:

I'm not crazy about how pervasive the politics has become in this situation, but let's be clear, Haymon does not play them more than HBO and their promoters, he's simply been playing them better. And it seems pretty convoluted to blame Beterbiev for the mere fact that Haymon has put him in an advantageous position with an opportunity to make even more money in the future.

 

Look man, we're going in circles here. My point is, knowing what the facts are and the options available, Beterbiev who doesn't bring much to the table should have taken that offer and as a Beterbiev fan I'm disappointed he didn't.

I don't expect the same of Stevenson for example and I think Main Events are responsible for that fight not happening but you see, every situation is different.

 

For Beterbiev to fight in Russia, being tchetchen, is like fighting satan in hell. Kovalev and Duva offered Beterbiev the fight knowing that, just so that it would make Beterbiev look bad, so that they could say latter, when they pull out due to being tied to HBO, that they already offered once the fight to Beterbiev.

The more I see it, the more it looks like Duva and Michel are sharing the cake of the 175 division.

 

He wouldn't be waiting around if he took that more than fair offer from Kovalev now would he. :shock: