In the aftermath of his impressive win against Jean Pascal in Montreal, Kovalev knew who his next opponent would be as Mohammedi has been groomed for the challenge since signing with Duva in November of last year. A routine victory over Lee Campbell on the Kovalev-Pascal undercard rubberstamped Mohammedi as the next in line for big-punching Kovalev as the Frenchman added to his impressive 37-3 record with a 23rd stoppage.
Losing out to ex-Kovalev foe Nathan Cleverly in a 2010 interim world title challenge means Mohammedi goes into the fight as a huge underdog to dethrone the formidable Russian – who dealt with ‘Clev’ without a problem when the pair collided in Wales back in 2013.
If Kovalev does the expected in the coming months and retains his WBA, WBO and IBF belts against Mohammedi, Duva outlined that Main Events will be aiming to strike up WBC stipulated negotiations with green belt holder Adonis Stevenson after failing to land the contest last year.
“We are working on a June/July time frame for the Kovalev-Mohammedi fight, but we have not yet targeted an exact date or location at this point,” Duva exclusively explained to World Boxing News, before referring to talks on the Kovalev v Stevenson super-fight: “Back in December, the WBC ruled that their mandated negotiation period for Kovalev v Stevenson would begin following the Mohammedi fight,” she said.
There is no doubt that Kovalev v Stevenson is the one everybody wants to see at 175lbs and would once again see the undisputed top two in a division square-up on the back of Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao being made for May.
Stevenson moving to Showtime held up initial attempts to secure the encounter with Kovalev, although the recent agreement between Mayweather and Pacquiao should give hope that in the current climate, any fight no matter how elusive, can be agreed and signed.
