Greg Leon: Congrats on WBC/world light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk's victory over Doudou Ngumbu. Can you give us some thoughts on his performance? Egis Klimas: "We couldn't see much of his performance because the guy wouldn't let him show what he's capable of. He was a very awkward opponent and more like a disco dancer than a boxer, but sadly it ended. When Gvozdyk recognized what he had to do and started to put a little pressure on the guy he quit...or says he's got injured. I can't say he quit, maybe he did have an injury. I haven't heard anything about it yet." 

 

GL: Seems like you're questioning the integrity of his injury?  

 

Egis Klimas: "That's correct. It wasn't something like, I watched the video after and it's not like he twisted anything or pulled something, it was out of the blue he went down. I think he had enough and he didn't want to be there anymore."

 

GL: Are you disappointed that Gvozdyk didn't get to get put an impressive stamp for his ESPN main event debut?

 

EK: "He got the victory and that's all that matters. That's always the main thing. It would have been nice if the guy wanted to fight, but we got the victory and came out the winner, so what's there to be disappointed about?"

 

GL: He barely broke a sweat in this fight. Will you look to get him back in the ring as soon as possible?

 

EK: "Yes. I haven't talked to the promoters yet, but I will and we will try to get back into the ring ASAP."

 

GL: Is there any update you could give us on the Kovalev and Yarde fight?

 

EK: "Nope. We're talking and offers are going back and forth. The fight is interesting to put in Russia, the fight is interesting to put in UK, so whatever comes first comes first."

 

GL: Will a purse bid come first?

 

EK: "It's definitely a possibility and if we don't reach an agreement there's going to be a purse bid."

 

GL: Do you really think they want the fight? Do you think they're trying to use the location as an excuse to back out? If this goes to a purse bid do you see them following through?

 

EK: "They're the ones who pushed their fight to be for the mandatory so I assume that they want to fight. I want the fight to happen."

 

GL: How's Lomachenko doing in camp?

 

EK: "Let me tell you...he's fantastic. He's the best there is. He's physically strong, he's mentally strong. I went to see him yesterday and he's on top of his game."

 

GL: Is he really having a hard time getting up for Anthony Crolla?

 

EK: "Absolutely not. He's preparing exactly the same he would for any other fight. He's so mentally strong that this will never be a problem with Lomachenko. He's probably even mentally stronger than physically."

 

GL: So Loma will be at his best and he's taking Crolla as seriously as he would Mikey Garcia.

 

EK: "Yes to the first part, no on the second because he's getting ready like he was fighting Floyd Mayweather."

 

GL: Egidijus Kavaliauskas didn't look so hot. Did that performance removed him from the Terence Crawford sweepstakes?

 

EK: "He might have lost the spot, but let's go back a little bit. You were at the Garden when Gvozdyk fought the French guy (Medhi Amar) before Stevenson. How did Gvozdyk look in that fight?

 

GL: "He looked like shit."

 

EK: "He looked like shit, right. How did Kovalev look in his fight (Caparello) before Hopkins? Not so good, so this is a business where sometimes you get big fights after not looking so well and this may be the case for Kavaliauskas. He's the number one guy and Crawford is going to have to fight him eventually, eventually he is going to be the mandatory. Kavaliauskas didn't look his best and of course there's a problem with his performance. I didn't give him a high five after the fight or anything like that, but maybe now Crawford looks at him as an opportunity to get the mandatory out of the way. We'll see what happens. It's possible, but maybe the promoter will say that we can't do Crawford yet because he just looked like shit."

 

GL: If people are to believe he's got a chance with Crawford, he should be able to handle Ray Robinson.

 

EK: "Am I happy or pleased with his performance? No I'm not. But everybody has their good days and bad days."

 

GL: Do you think he won the fight? Do you think the draw was fair?

 

EK: "I don't think he lost the fight, I don't know what the judge who scored it 97-92 was watching, me personally, I had Kavaliauskas winning the fight six rounds to four and I firmly believe he won the fight."