Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.

The bout between Russia’s Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs) and France’s Mohammedi (37-3, 23 KOs) will mark the beginning of Kovalev’s new multi-fight contract with HBO. Kovalev, one of boxing’s biggest punchers, most recently scored an impressive eighth-round technical knockout victory over Quebec’s Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs, 1 NC) on March 14 in Montreal.

Sergey Kovalev will make a mandatory defense of his IBF light heavyweight title against France’s Nadjib Mohammedi on July 18 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

User Comments and Feedback

I wish Lennox Lewis would commentate on all Kovalev fights just so I could hear him say "Look at the state of his face!" again.

[QUOTE=KrusherStan;15663815]Far as I know, Pascal would be possibly in the under-card, so then the promoters negotiate a possible Kovalev-Pascal II. There's no way Stevenson and Kovalev fight each other, 'cause Adonis is scheduled to fight two tomato cans in September…

[QUOTE=HeroBando;15666131]Neither Duva nor Kovalev can pass on a multifight Hbo contract, its a huge deal for somone without built in fanbase. See Stevensons huge drop in ratings and attendance since he left Hbo.[/QUOTE] If the objective was to lock in…

[QUOTE=HeroBando;15666104]Kovalevs next fight us lackluster, kinda like whatever Stevensons been doing off Hbo, but Im sure itll do far better premium cable ratings, and Kov will look better. Stevenson is the hometown champ in one of boxing best local markets…

Kovalev gives Arab a few camel humps on his face, then bombs him outta there.