Conflicting boxing cards create logjam on July 25 in Las Vegas

Kathy Duva wasn’t surprised last week when Premier Boxing Champions announced it would host a fight card July 25 at the Palms the same night Sergey Kovalev is scheduled to fight at Mandalay Bay.

Duva, whose Main Events promotes Kovalev, said it was another case of Al Haymon, who runs PBC, trying to bully the boxing world.

Haymon’s card features a fight between cruiserweights Beibut Shumenov and B.J. Flores in the main event on NBC Sports Network. Kovalev, who has three of the four world championship belts at light heavyweight, faces Nadjib Mohammedi on HBO.

“It’s another example of his behavior,” Duva said of Haymon, who was sued Wednesday by Top Rank for $100 million for allegedly violating antitrust laws. “In a way, I take it as a compliment that he sees us as a threat.”

Duva doesn’t think the PBC card at the Palms, promoted by Mayweather Promotions (Haymon is not licensed to promote in Nevada), will do much damage to her card at Mandalay Bay.

“Nothing against the two fighters, but if he’s going to sabotage us, he needs to come up with a better fight than this,” Duva said. “We’re not going to worry about what they’re doing. We’re going to focus on promoting our fight.”

■ FLOYD PASSES ON BELT — Floyd Mayweather Jr. decided the World Boxing Organization welterweight title belt wasn’t worth $200,000.

Mayweather, who won the title by beating Manny Pacquiao on May 2, refused to pay the WBO a sanctioning fee so he could claim the belt. The WBO had given Mayweather a deadline of Friday.

The WBO is expected to strip Mayweather of the belt Monday and upgrade Timothy Bradley to full champion. Bradley won the interim title by beating Jessie Vargas in Carson, Calif., on June 27.

Vargas’ manager, Cameron Dunkin, said he talked to the WBO and was told there will not be an immediate rematch ordered after the fight was stopped prematurely by referee Pat Russell.

Dunkin also said the California State Athletic Commission had no plans to order a change in the decision. Bradley won by unanimous decision, and Vargas was seeking the result be changed to a no contest.

■ PBC MGM NUMBERS — Numbers for the PBC cards June 20 and 21 at the MGM Grand Garden were released by the Nevada Athletic Commission.

The June 20 card, in which Shawn Porter defeated Adrien Broner in the main event, had an official attendance of 7,938 generating a gate of $767,921. Of the 7,938, 763 tickets were complimentary.

The June 21 card, in which Rances Barthelemy defeated Antonio DeMarco in the main event, had an official attendance of 4,129 and a gate of $122,100. There were 320 comps issued.

■ LOCALS IN L.A. — The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena is preparing to close its doors, but not before one last boxing event Saturday.

The undercard of the Golden Boy event includes two Las Vegas boxers, lightweight Sharif Bogere and bantamweight Melinda Cooper. Bogere (27-1, 19 knockouts) will face Michael Perez (22-1-2, 10 KOs) in a 10-round bout. Cooper (23-2, 11 KOs) will meet Carolina Arias (10-1, four KOs) for the vacant WBO women’s bantamweight title.

In the main event, Hank Lundy and Mauricio Herrera square off for the vacant North American Boxing Federation super lightweight title.

■ MARES VS. SANTA CRUZ — The long-awaited matchup between Southern California superstars Abner Mares and Leo Santa Cruz has been made. The featherweights will meet Aug. 29 at Staples Center in Los Angeles in the main event on a PBC card.

Mares (29-1-1, 15 KOs) is a three-division world champion, and Santa Cruz (30-0-1, 17 KOs) has been the World Boxing Council super bantamweight champion who recently moved up to featherweight. No television network has been named, but it probably will be NBC or ESPN.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.