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Steve KimESPN
Coming off his revenge victory over Eleider Alvarez, look for an early summer return of WBO light heavyweight titlist, Sergey Kovalev.
According to Kathy Duva, the head of Main Events, “We’re waiting for a date in June on ESPN.”
Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 KOs) on Feb. 2 decisively outpointed Alvarez — who had knocked him out in seven rounds in August — to recapture the title. There was some talk of Kovalev facing IBF belt-holder, Artur Beterbiev in a unification battle.
“That can’t be in June, (Beterbiev) is fighting in May and right after that it’s Ramadan. So it’s not possible,” pointed out Duva.
A possibility is long-time contender, Sullivan Barrera (22-2, 14 KOs) who was once promoted by Main Events.
“It’s kind of funny, when the contract was up, we offered to keep working with him, but he didn’t want to. So we wished him the best and I like Sullivan a lot, but his management doesn’t always give him the best advice,” said Duva, with a chuckle.
“So now, they’ve called us, so we’ll see,” continued Duva. “I’m not going to say never, it’s really going to come down to what’s the best option for Sergey. He’s got a mandatory coming up, we’ll have to look into that. That may be the best time to do it.”
Duva says that this upcoming bout for Kovalev will take place in either New York or New Jersey, depending on the exact date.