On paper at least, the fight with Agnew is a mismatch. Kovalev has beat better fighters in Campillo, Sillakh and Cleverly. This was supposed to be a prelude to the fight with Stevenson. It's not a great match-up on its own. Now that Stevenson has decided he does not want to face Kovalev, Duva needs to secure another big fight like Pascal because it'll look poorly on Kovalev if he continues to face mid-level opponents. At this point in his career, he needs a stand-out win.