HBO rejects Stevenson-Fonfara due to Haymon's involvement with Stevenson

[Ron Swanson]

People are missing the boat here. Stevenson is the bad guy for making the Fonfara fight, that's absurd since Kovalev was negotiating with Fonfara first. They both wanted him because HBO approved him. Nothing changed about a Stevenson/Kovalev fight happening in the fall until HBO said suddenly they didn't want a fight they already approved because Haymon shopped for fair market value. That's as f'd up as HBO picking fights to begin with. They choose fights and refuse to pay market value on those fights?!?! That is not free enterprise. The sport is tyrants dealing with tyrants. HBO uses their platform to dictate. That's smart business for them, not for fighters. But their competition gets closer every day. It's not about ratings, it's not about PPVs, it's about subscriptions with HBO/Showtime. And Showtime has been gaining ground for a long time. Let HBO keep trying to strong arm, Showtime will keep gaining ground. When they are near equal a more competitive market will bring out the best. Suddenly HBO won't be able to bold faced lie and still dictate. How is HBO supposed to choose your opponents and your management and your promoter and your pay and whether or not you can seek out a better deal. That's BS, don't turn it on the fighter. If you want to blame the fighter for things that's fine but not for what is wrong with this scenario.

[TigerFan]

Duva: Stevenson Obviously 'Scared To Death' Of Kovalev - Boxing News

Here's a few excerpts

We had a deal,” said Ray Stallone, HBO Sports’ spokesman. “It changed. It is not the way we do it.”

HBO Sports passed on Stevenson-Fonfara after Stevenson’s representatives asked for more money to face Fonfara and refused to commit to facing Kovalev in his following fight if Stevenson won.

“He’s running away,” Klimas said. “But again, it’s their plan. Is he running away because he’s afraid? Or is he running to get more money? Or maybe it’s both – fear and the money. You probably you can’t blame a man. He wants to get more money and he’s afraid. So it kind of makes sense.”

“Back in January, the end of January, I made a deal with Yvon Michel,” Duva said, referencing Stevenson’s Quebec-based promoter. “The next day, Yvon and I made a deal with HBO, with [HBO Sports executive] Peter Nelson. We exchanged emails. The deal was done. And yet, Adonis, we’ve seen the way he has reacted every time he has had Sergey’s name mentioned to him – stuttering, acting like he doesn’t want to talk about it. It was kind of obvious Adonis went and did the one thing that was left for him to do to get out of this fight. And that was to sign with a guy [powerful adviser Al Haymon] who we all know makes sure the public doesn’t get to see the fights they want to see. So no one was surprised when the news came out that [after] he had found new management, after a multi-million-dollar deal had been negotiated on his behalf, that he didn’t want the fight with Sergey. He’s running.”

[Kirkland Laing]

HBO had a deal with Stevenson's promoter since January for the Fonfara fight then Kovalev in September. But they didn't get a contract drawn up and signed.

Haymon steps in and asks HBO for more money for the Fonfara fight. HBO says no. Showtime agrees to pay the money. Stevenson goes after the money.

HBO still have first refusal on two or three of Stevenson's future fights. They can outbid Showtime for Stevenson Hopkins or blow Showtime out of the water with a huge bid to put Stevenson in the ring with Kovalev. I think Stevenson will fight anybody as long as the money is right.

I'm amazed HBO are fucking around like this. Why didn't they get that contract signed and sealed months ago? Showtime are eating their lunch.

[Ron Swanson]

Duva: Stevenson Obviously 'Scared To Death' Of Kovalev - Boxing News

Here's a few excerpts

We had a deal,” said Ray Stallone, HBO Sports’ spokesman. “It changed. It is not the way we do it.”

HBO Sports passed on Stevenson-Fonfara after Stevenson’s representatives asked for more money to face Fonfara and refused to commit to facing Kovalev in his following fight if Stevenson won.

“He’s running away,” Klimas said. “But again, it’s their plan. Is he running away because he’s afraid? Or is he running to get more money? Or maybe it’s both – fear and the money. You probably you can’t blame a man. He wants to get more money and he’s afraid. So it kind of makes sense.”

“Back in January, the end of January, I made a deal with Yvon Michel,” Duva said, referencing Stevenson’s Quebec-based promoter. “The next day, Yvon and I made a deal with HBO, with [HBO Sports executive] Peter Nelson. We exchanged emails. The deal was done. And yet, Adonis, we’ve seen the way he has reacted every time he has had Sergey’s name mentioned to him – stuttering, acting like he doesn’t want to talk about it. It was kind of obvious Adonis went and did the one thing that was left for him to do to get out of this fight. And that was to sign with a guy [powerful adviser Al Haymon] who we all know makes sure the public doesn’t get to see the fights they want to see. So no one was surprised when the news came out that [after] he had found new management, after a multi-million-dollar deal had been negotiated on his behalf, that he didn’t want the fight with Sergey. He’s running.”

Just look at these quotes and how they try to shift blame

Quote 1-they had a deal and it changed, Adonis was offered more money. That's not how we do business, that is however how a free market does business.

Quote 2-they say they don't know if he's running away out of fear or if it's for more money. Then they say it's both. They contradict themselves dismissing the fact it's prize fighting. We know he wants more money. Then they add the cliche boxing fans eat up of fear. Now that feaar is paired with the truth it's lended credibility even though there is no supportive evidence. The next cliche move would be to jump to conclusions the fans will believe, that's coming

Quote 3-the fight was done, the only thing that's changed is new management that wanted fair market value. We have unquestionable evidence HBO was unwilling to pay fair market value(Adoonis/Fonfara) and they blame Haymon even though Haymon was still willing to deal and it was in fact HBO that refuses to make it all happen. So what excuse do they use? The cliche afraid. How does this have any substance? It doesn't but they use a cliche fans eat up, he stuttered and didn't want to talk about something. Let's apply some logic here. HBO could tell me they're working out a deal for me to be locked in a cell unsupervised with Ike Ibeabuchi and I'm not going to stutter because it's not done and even if it was done it's months away. People don't cower in fear of things months away. But if HBO if my management was working out a deal with two companies at once to see which deal is better and I'm discussing one deal I'm going to struggle talking about it because I don't want to say the wrong thing and there's lots of unknown information in my head I don't want to give away =stuttering. This second option has solid supportive evidence because it was in fact happening. Butt they play the "he's afraid" even though as we discussed people aren't afraid of things far off because fans eat it up. They ignore the more logical reason because it doesn't suit their needs. They blame Haymon even though they admit they were the ones unwilling to deal with him. Fans will ignore the logic though because they love "he's scared"

[TigerFan]

Promoter: Adonis Stevenson got 'a better offer' from Showtime than HBO - Ring TV

Both sides to blame in Stevenson-Kovalev disaster - ESPN

[FinitoElDinamita]

Cant hate on that.. stevenson is getting old and dude is trying to maximize his earning..

I put myself in his shoes and its like, why wouldnt u go to showtime if their offer is better? Shit, I would rather face an old legend ( well so they say ) in hopkins on showtime for millions of dollars rather than fighting a killer like kovalev for less money.. business wise, it doesnt make sense to fight kovalev right now.

[Rantcatrat]

There was a deal in place for Kovalev to face Agnew, which is a stay-busy BS fight, and Stevenson to face Fonfara, which is a stay busy BS fight, and then for Kovalev and Stevenson to face each other. No one really cared about Agnew or Fonfara. Fans just wanted Kovalev against Stevenson. It looks like to me that Stevenson never really wanted to face Kovalev. Watch his post-fight interview after knocking out Bellew, he was already talking about Hopkins and Pascal and avoiding Kovalev. Now he gets an opportunity to go in another direction, and he jumps at it. Is anyone surprised? Basically, Stevenson would take HBO's money to face Fonfara, but didn't want to take their money to face Kovalev because he'd prefer to face Hopkins or Shumenov. This is a situation where "Blame Bob" and "Blame Al" aren't as applicable as "Blame Adonis."

The bottom line is we don't get Kovalev-Stevenson.

[bzkfn]

What I find annoying is that some fighters think it's ok for Stevenson to chase the Hopkins fight yet will criticize Calzaghe's career by saying he beat an 'old' version of Hopkins. Either Hopkins is old and past it or his is a viable fight.

[beenKOed]

Duva: Stevenson Obviously 'Scared To Death' Of Kovalev - Boxing News

Here's a few excerpts

We had a deal,” said Ray Stallone, HBO Sports’ spokesman. “It changed. It is not the way we do it.”

HBO Sports passed on Stevenson-Fonfara after Stevenson’s representatives asked for more money to face Fonfara and refused to commit to facing Kovalev in his following fight if Stevenson won.

“He’s running away,” Klimas said. “But again, it’s their plan. Is he running away because he’s afraid? Or is he running to get more money? Or maybe it’s both – fear and the money. You probably you can’t blame a man. He wants to get more money and he’s afraid. So it kind of makes sense.”

“Back in January, the end of January, I made a deal with Yvon Michel,” Duva said, referencing Stevenson’s Quebec-based promoter. “The next day, Yvon and I made a deal with HBO, with [HBO Sports executive] Peter Nelson. We exchanged emails. The deal was done. And yet, Adonis, we’ve seen the way he has reacted every time he has had Sergey’s name mentioned to him – stuttering, acting like he doesn’t want to talk about it. It was kind of obvious Adonis went and did the one thing that was left for him to do to get out of this fight. And that was to sign with a guy [powerful adviser Al Haymon] who we all know makes sure the public doesn’t get to see the fights they want to see. So no one was surprised when the news came out that [after] he had found new management, after a multi-million-dollar deal had been negotiated on his behalf, that he didn’t want the fight with Sergey. He’s running.”

In a business filled with liars, how do you navigate? Every time you turn around somebody is explaining away another lie or making up another one.