By Dan Ambrose: #2 IBF super middleweight contender Adonis Stevenson (18-1, 15 KO’s) couldn’t have picked the worse time to suffer a hand injury, as he was supposed to be fighting #11 IBF Don George (22-2-1, 19 KO’s) this Friday night in an IBF super middleweight eliminator bout that was going to be televised on ESPN2 at the Buffalo Run Casino, in Miami, Oklahoma.
The 34-year-old Stevenson’s hand injury means that his fight against the 27-year-old George is now off, according to boxing news from Dan Rafael. George’s team is currently looking for a replacement opponent so that his fight can still go ahead this Friday. However, given the short notice it’s not likely that they’ll be able to find anyone halfway decent enough to make for an interesting fight. The Stevenson-George fight was supposed to have been the main event on the ESPN2 televised fight card.
It’s unclear if Stevenson and George will fight in the future once Stevenson’s hand injury heals. There is going to have to be an IBF eliminator bout at some point unless the International Boxing Federation wants to simply pick an opponent to make as IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch’s mandatory. They might be risking things if they make Stevenson the mandatory because hand injuries tend to have a way of flaring up again even after they’re supposedly healed.
Before George agreed to take the fight, Stevenson’s team had huge problems trying to find an opponent that was willing to face him, being turned down by Mikkel Kessler, Andre Dirrell, Thomas Oothuizen, Kelly Pavlik, and many other top super middleweights.
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