Adonis Stevenson: Kovalev just doesn’t want to fight me

For years now, fans have wanted to see a light heavyweight clash between Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson, who returns on Saturday to face Badou Jack in Toronto, live on Showtime.

Most have been happy to place the blame for the fight not happening on Stevenson (29-1, 24 KO), but Stevenson says Kovalev is to blame:

“Kovalev just doesn’t want to fight me. It went to purse bids and everyone knows it was up for purse bids, but he just disappeared. He didn’t want it to go to purse bids, and I can’t force a guy who doesn’t to want fight me, to fight me.”

This will obviously raise some eyebrows and whatnot, but that’s the stance of Stevenson, who still holds the WBC title that he will defend against Jack (22-1-2, 13 KO) in a few days.

At this point, too, Kovalev-Stevenson has lost some zing, because of Kovalev’s two losses to Andre Ward, but they’re still the top two light heavyweights out there for the time being. That could all change soon — Jack is a tough opponent for Stevenson, and Kovalev faces Eleider Alvarez on August 4 on HBO. But if they both win their upcoming fights, the demand will probably be back for them to finally get it on, even if it still seems unlikely, as nothing has really changed other than Kovalev lost twice to the then-top P4P fighter in the sport.