BoxRec

Choose 1 promoter and 1 price range. Both camps are on record saying they will fight no matter who wins the bid and regardless of what network it's on. Looks like HBO is holding off on negotiations with Kovalev until the outcome of the purse bid. If Roc Nation wins I doubt Haymon will allow Stevenson to fight, that's why i think Roc Nation is the wildcard in all of this. They're throwing money around like crazy.

Is it a fact Roc Nation will be making an attempt at winning this purse bid?

I'll be surprised if someone not in the PBC/Al Haymon family of promoters doesn't win it.

ReggieDiggs wrote:Is it a fact Roc Nation will be making an attempt at winning this purse bid?

I'll be surprised if someone not in the PBC/Al Haymon family of promoters doesn't win it.

Naw it's not a fact they'll bid but they've been throwing money around trying to get a big fight. They bid $1.9 Mil on Quillin/Korobov. Threw $50 mil at Cotto without a significant fight lined up. I wouldn't be surprised to see Roc Nation put a bid in.

Purse bids, this is a big deal.
And why are the wbc making another belt holder the mandatory challenger? I mean it is a good thing but do they just the rules up as they go along.

fergusg wrote: Forcing their champs, such as Cotto and Stevenson to face other titleholders like Golovkin or Kovalev, will only result in the WBC being able to pick-and-choose who their champs are without any fights taking place.

Put it this way, Gennady Golovkin will be declared the WBC champ without actually fighting, because Cotto can't or won't face him. GGG has never gained any of his "full" world titles by fighting for them.

Likewise, if Al Haymon doesn't win the purse bid, then Kovalev is likely to be declared the new WBC champ, as he won't allow his man to have his fights televised by HBO (or possibly promoted by Roc Nation)

Do we really want to see situations whereby the WBC champs gain or lose their titles outside the ring?

We definitely do. WBC does a good thing. Champions are supposed to defend their titles against the best opposition which includes other champions. If they don't want to, they need to be stripped. Your two examples are perfect. Cotto sits on his MW belt for a year and wants to defend it against welters and light middles at 155. Stevenson has been ducking Kovalev and Hopkins for two years. Quillin, Danny, how many more champions not willing to face dangerous opposition are there ? We don't need such "champions".

ikorolev wrote:

fergusg wrote: Forcing their champs, such as Cotto and Stevenson to face other titleholders like Golovkin or Kovalev, will only result in the WBC being able to pick-and-choose who their champs are without any fights taking place.

Put it this way, Gennady Golovkin will be declared the WBC champ without actually fighting, because Cotto can't or won't face him. GGG has never gained any of his "full" world titles by fighting for them.

Likewise, if Al Haymon doesn't win the purse bid, then Kovalev is likely to be declared the new WBC champ, as he won't allow his man to have his fights televised by HBO (or possibly promoted by Roc Nation)

Do we really want to see situations whereby the WBC champs gain or lose their titles outside the ring?

We definitely do. WBC does a good thing. Champions are supposed to defend their titles against the best opposition which includes other champions. If they don't want to, they need to be stripped. Your two examples are perfect. Cotto sits on his MW belt for a year and wants to defend it against welters and light middles at 155. Stevenson has been ducking Kovalev and Hopkins for two years. Quillin, Danny, how many more champions not willing to face dangerous opposition are there ? We don't need such "champions".

You missed his entire point. Instead you picked two scenarios that favor you're favorite fighters. His point is that the ABC organizations should make fighters fight for the belts instead of making new belts which helps certain fighters leapfrog other fighters who are rightfully in line to challenge for the belts. The WBC changed their rules in December which now allows Kovalev to challenge Srevenson while other WBC champs and contenders were pushed aside. These ABC organizations want the most ppopular, and highest earning fighters, wearing their belts and they change their own rules to reflect that. If these ABC. organizations could they would award Floyd and Manny every belt in every weight class

fergusg wrote: Do we really want to see situations whereby the WBC champs gain or lose their titles outside the ring?

We already have. There's historical precedent; it's not a new thing with them, so why are you acting as if it is?

I can name at least two heavyweight champions crowned by the WBC, going back 40 years, who won their title outside the ring.

& for the record, to see proper match-ups I care little about which strap is being fought for. Kovalev vs Stevenson is one of the best fights in boxing, it's a logical fight to determine who the man is at the weight.

Anything which precipitates it is a good thing & cavilling over the details is just utterly crazy imo. You have to take these things on a case-by-case basis.

But then again, your average boxing fan seems okay with being used like schmucks for over half a decade by a pair of prima donnas, so, you know.

Bottom line is, you always want things decided in the ring.

But personally, I have no problem with a guy being stripped if he won't fight another guy in his weight class as long as it is clear everything was done to make the fight in a fair and equitable way.

Kovalev and Stevenson should fight. And their respective promoters should come to an agreement where everyone benefits, as there is no clear A-side here.

ikorolev wrote:We definitely do. WBC does a good thing. Champions are supposed to defend their titles against the best opposition which includes other champions. If they don't want to, they need to be stripped. Your two examples are perfect. Cotto sits on his MW belt for a year and wants to defend it against welters and light middles at 155. Stevenson has been ducking Kovalev and Hopkins for two years. Quillin, Danny, how many more champions not willing to face dangerous opposition are there ? We don't need such "champions".

We need a situation when so called champions defend their belts against the best in the division, ESPECIALLY other belt holders. Who cant do it are not real champs and should get the hell out.

On the subject. I dont see Haymon giving away the bid after he initiated it. Probably not more then 5 mil though. This should be the most interesting bidding process I have witnessed so far.

Tarkus wrote:We need a situation when so called champions defend their belts against the best in the division, ESPECIALLY other belt holders. Who cant do it are not real champs and should get the hell out.

On the subject. I dont see Haymon giving away the bid after he initiated it. Probably not more then 5 mil though. This should be the most interesting bidding process I have witnessed so far.

Al Haymon would look very VERY bad in this situation if he made Stevenson drop the WBC belt.

Adonis would be blamed and ridiculed by everyone! He wouldn't be able to show his face in public.

I like what the WBC is doing. If a WBC titleholder is unwilling to fight the best challenger, he doesn't deserve the title anyway.

Freedom2013 wrote:

Tarkus wrote:We need a situation when so called champions defend their belts against the best in the division, ESPECIALLY other belt holders. Who cant do it are not real champs and should get the hell out.

On the subject. I dont see Haymon giving away the bid after he initiated it. Probably not more then 5 mil though. This should be the most interesting bidding process I have witnessed so far.

Al Haymon would look very VERY bad in this situation if he made Stevenson drop the WBC belt.

Adonis would be blamed and ridiculed by everyone! He wouldn't be able to show his face in public.

I like what the WBC is doing. If a WBC titleholder is unwilling to fight the best challenger, he doesn't deserve the title anyway.

The way Stevenson people were bullish about the bid indicates they are going to throw money at it. I wonder how much HBO can back Main Events to get the fight. They certainly dont want to give away the biggest Kovalev fight to other networks.

Stevenson team refused to negotiate with Kovalevs team and asked for a purse bid instead. So the purse bid was called. I dont see anything out of ordinary there.

Tarkus wrote:Stevenson team refused to negotiate with Kovalevs team and asked for a purse bid instead. So the purse bid was called. I dont see anything out of ordinary there.

Same. Plus shining light on any randomly odd or seemingly inconsistent thing a abc belt group does is like talking about the jaywalking ticket the serial killer got after he murdered 27 people.

Many things happening in boxing now are out of the ordinary ...

ikorolev wrote:Many things happening in boxing now are out of the ordinary ...

Boy did you say a mouth full. Boxing is anything but ordinary