With the calender rapidly approaching November, manager Egis Klimas is going to find himself to be a very busy man. WBO champion Sergey Kovalev will attempt to unify titles with IBF/WBA champion Bernard Hopkins in Atlantic City, a fight that is arguably the biggest of both Klimas and Kovalev's careers. A potential win for Sergey Kovalev against a legend of the sport like Bernard Hopkins and sky could be the limit for both Sergey and Egis.
I caught up with Egis Klimas for a short interview with some questions about the short-term future of some of his other, younger fighters.
One of your most well known fighters, WBO champion Sergey
Kovalev will be returning on HBO in November against the legendary Bernard
Hopkins, in a fight many fans are calling frontrunner for fight of the year.
Sergey seems to be one of those dedicated boxers who stay in the gym
year-round. After just having fought less then three weeks ago on HBO, how soon
do you expect Sergey to start his training camp for his big fight?
EK: He is already training, he just took a couple of days off after his fight on August 2nd, he did not tire much in only two rounds so he did not need a long break to recover.
Not to look too far ahead and certainly not to overlook Bernard Hopkins, but with a potential victory for Sergey in November, would you be interested in re-pursuing a unification fight with Adonis Stevenson with the goal of Sergey becoming the undisputed 175lb champion?
EK: If Sergey wins and at that time Stevenson will be holding the WBC title, yes, sure we will look for unification fight.
WBO Featherweight champion and two time Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko is coming off a fantastic performance against another Olympian, Gary Russell Jr. There have been slight rumors that Lomachenko could return on the Manny Pacquiao-Chris Algieri pay-per-view under card in Macau against #1 WBO contender Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo. How soon could we expect an official announcement on Lomachenko’s next opponent and date?
EK: It is still in work Vasily's next fight, I think by the mid of next week Top Rank will be able to make an announcement.
You have previously expressed interest
in a Featherweight tourney, which could possibly involve two of your 126lb
champions. Has there been any progression on discussions for this possible
tournament, or is it all just speculation at this point?
EK: Yes, I liked an idea after Top Rank shared with me about this tournament, I think it would be interesting for fans and should be good for sport of boxing.
IBF Featherweight champion Evgeny Gradovich has won over a
large number of fans since making his American television debut on ESPN2 in
March of last year, with his fan friendly, all-action style. With only 19
professional fights, he has already taken on three mandatory challengers since
winning his belt. Are there any opponents you in particular that you would like
to see him fight next?
EK: In the Featherweight division sky is the limit, there is so many good fighters, existing champions and upcoming guys who will make good fights. Evgeny's next bout is also in the works and we should have some clearance from our promoter soon.
A common theme for many of your fighters has been the pace in which they’ve stepped up and the difficulty of opposition in such a short amount of time. Two of your rising prospects and former Olympians- Egidijus Kavaliauskas and Oleksandr Gvozdyk have made their professional debuts within the past year. Are there any plans for either of these former amateur stars to make their major television debuts, particularly on ESPN Friday Night Fights, later this year or next year?
EK: These two mentioned fighters by you are real deals. Both are signed with Top Rank Promotions and I believe both will make a lot of noise in boxing. On the other hand you can't make big plans or predictions in boxing, you never know what can happen during the bout or during training, so we are going from bout to bout. Egidijus and Oleksandr train together at Robert Garcia's Boxing Academy and their next fights will be on the same card in Phoenix, Arizona on September 20th.
Vyacheslav Glazkov is another one of your fighters who has challenged tough opposition before hitting his 20th professional fight. He is next in line for an IBF mandatory title shot against Heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko, if he defeats the only man ahead of “Czar” next month: Kubrat Pulev. Will this be something you plan to pursue for Vyacheslav soon or would you like to get him some more experience under his belt before challenging for a title shot?
EK: Well, "Czar" injured his hand in bout with Derric Rossy and as of now he is in healing status, how long it will take it is hard to say but he is seeing specialists and working with a therapist. As far as experience, he has plenty, 300 amateur fights and five plus years in his professional career with almost 20 bouts.
Egis, I would like to again thank you for your time and I would like to add that the tough matchmaking for many of your fighters has been very enjoyable to watch by boxing fans across the world over the past couple of years!
EK: Thank you! Also would like to mention two very good prospects I just added to my management list. Both came with very good wins- Vasily "The Professor" Lephikin who won by 5th round TKO against Australian Robert Berridge August 9th in Bethlehem, PA. On August 2nd in Atlantic City, Dmitriy "Mechanik" Mikhailenko scored an 8 round unanimous decision vs. Sechew Powell. Boxing world will hear very soon about these two boxers. Also Main Events is looking into signing Vasily Lephikin.
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