I think Fenster hit the nail on the head. This is a promotional/broadcasting turf war. Kovalev has an exclusive contract with HBO. IamInuit, got the rest. Main events won't outbid Haymon, which means the fight would be on CBS or some Haymon ppv thing... At which point Kovalevs choices are:

-Try to fight for pennies on Haymons promotion where the odds and money are stacked against him and then be sued for those pennies and more by HBO

- Haymon leverages more pay if Kovalev signs a contract with him. He gets sued by Duva, and Probably HBO for breach of contract and is locked out like the thing with ward.

- Stay on HBO and try to get stevenson to fight on HBO to maintain his contractual obligation and still get his belt from Stevenson.

...so Duva counter offers the fight on HBO with Stevenson getting a bigger cut that he should get but not more than kovalev (and everyone gets to keep the money they make). Both Haymon and stevenson know the deal and realize its the end of the line so to speak if Stevenson gets Krushed... and theres more money to be made in the long run on the slow bleed of stevenson and feeding him bums. So Haymon flashes money and calls Duva's bluff and flips HBO the bird by winning a purse bid (but never having to actually spend the money) for a fight that can't be made. Smart by haymon, Dumb by Duva in that she walked right into it hoping the pressure and promise would Corner Stevenson/Haymon into making the fight someone else's terms.. and $h:tty for us in that now, the fight wont get made unless its under stevenson/haymons terms or Stevenson loses/gets stripped and Kovalev gains the opportunity to fight for it before stevenson does again (Rematch clauses make that unlikely)