BoxRec

So a list of viable names that are worth being considered as Sergey Kovalev’s next opponent, include the following:
• Dmitry Bivol – is a promotional & TV stablemate of Sergey Kovalev and also holds the WBA title, but Kathy Duva doesn’t want that fight
• Marcus Browne – Only a rumour, but there are reports that Main Events are in discussions with him (as he's the highest rated WBO challenger), but this might be a long shot, as he’s more likely to go down Artur Beterbiev’s IBF route instead
• Anthony Yarde – Will become the WBO’s mandatory challenger if Marcus Browne agrees to face Artur Beterbiev
• Oleksandr Gvozdyk – even though he has the same manager as Sergey Kovalev, he’s also with Top Rank (i.e. ESPN vs. HBO), which might make a bout between himself and Krusher difficult to make.
• Jürgen Brähmer – a former WBA "regular" titleholder at 175lbs, lost his belt due to injury in a fight he was winning at the time of having to withdraw, but he decided to jump down to 168lbs to defeat Rob Brant in the WBSS, before withdrawing from that tournament due to injury. He might be unavailable if he's still unjured He isn't currently rated by the WBO, but that hasn't stopped Main Events before, since neither was Igor Mikhalkin & Vyacheslav Shabranskyy when their bouts against Kovalev were initially announced

The following world-rated 175lb-ers are with Al Haymon, which we know Kathy Duva rarely does business with (i.e. GBP, K2, Main Events, HBO + Showtime, Haymon = No Fight - unless mega-bucks is involved, coupled with Krusher's exclusive contract with HBO):
• Adonis Stevenson - has a fight lined up against Badou Jack
• Eleider Alvarez - has a fight line up on the 19th May
• Artur Beterbiev - could soon move to Top Rank, but may also be defending his IBF strap against fellow Haymon stablemate, Marcus Browne
• Badou Jack - by proxy of being included in the PBC roster and he's already committed to facing Adonis Stevenson
• Marcus Browne - is rumoured to be in talks with Kovalev’s camp (as he's the highest rated WBO challenger), but is more likely to face fellow Haymon stablemate, Artur Beterbiev, on a Top Rank card
• Edwin Rodriguez

The following fighters lost their most recent outings, so they shouldn’t be considered:
• Sullivan Barrera - defeated by Dmitry Bivol
• Joe Smith Jr. - defeated by Sullivan Barrera
• Andrzej Fonfara - defeated by Adonis Stevenson

Unfortunately, looking at the WBO’s rankings, an awful lot of the names that I haven’t already discussed aren’t world-class and are probably similarly-unheralded to the likes of Krusher’s previous two victims (Igor Mikhalkin & Vyacheslav Shabranskyy):
• Mike Lee
• Dominic Boesel
• Sean Monaghan
• Manuel Ceballos
• Damien Hooper
• Robert Parzeczewski
• Blake Caperello
• Fanlong Meng
• Gasan Gasanov

I haven't bothered to research whether bouts against those guys are politically-feasible or not, since they’re fighters that most people wouldn’t really like seeing Krusher face.

Thoughts?

nice post enlightened one

personally id be surprised if its not another disappointing opponent. the wbo rankings generally suck, the strongest of the wbo ranked fighters are with haymon, and fights with the other champs seem unlikely. plus i just dont get the sense they want to match kov tough tbh.

so that leaves guys who lost there last fight or weak guys like you list at the bottom.

karo murat also fights at the end of the month vs a weak opponent for the ibo belt mikhlakin just had, and hes been on duva cards before i think. notably he was also stopped by barrera. i have a feeling that a guy like him actually be one of the STRONGEST of who there looking at, which sucks

i wonder if duva even cares though. maybe shes content with feeding krusher disappointing opponents as long as they have hbo dates. keep him winning and then feed him to bivol when hes another year or two older! then bivol is your star.

to me it just seems like everyones starting to feel shaky about kov and how much hes got left. and now this younger new russian ko puncher is on the seen. the whole thing just gives me the feeling the plan is to minimize risk for kov, the established lhw star, and then eventually match him vs the much fresher bivol in a fight that raises the younger mans star significantly. by that time kov probably wouldnt have much left to give hbo or duva, so its not a bad loss for them