By Allan Fox: WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (21-1, 18 KO’s) says he’ll be looking for a knockout this Saturday night against American Tavoris Cloud (24-1. 19 KO’s) at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Stevenson, 36, believes that a knockout win will make him a more marketable fighter, and he wants to make sure that he can get the hard hitting Cloud out of there as quickly as possible.
In Stevenson’s last fight, he stopped former WBC 175 lb. champion Chad Dawson in the 1st round with his “Superman” last June. Stevenson says he’s going to try the same “Superman” punch against Cloud on Saturday night to see if he can duplicate the results.
Stevenson told ESPN “I’m going for a knockout. Knockouts sell, you know. Emanuel [Steward] has told me all the way – knockouts sell…I think people want to see that, the knockout.”
Stevenson might need to get a knockout to win this fight, because if he lets Cloud hang around for 12 rounds, he’s going to take a lot of punishment, and we’ve already see that Stevenson doesn’t seem to take punishment nearly as good as he dishes it out.
Stevenson was knocked out by journeyman Darnell Boone in the 2nd round in 2010, and he looks vulnerable when his opponents hit him back. Cloud may not be a huge puncher, but he’s got enough power to stop Stevenson if he lands enough shots.
Cloud has faced much better opposition than Stevenson has during his career, and the difference in experience could help Cloud in this fight. Stevenson’s best opponents have been Dawson and Don George. The rest of the fighters on Stevenson’s resume are more of the lower level type of opposition.
Cloud has fought the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Gabriel Campillo, Glen Johnson, Fulgencio Zuniga and Clinton Woods.
Stevenson needs to keep the fight on the outside so that he can use his hand speed to pot shot Cloud. If Cloud is able to get inside on Stevenson and stay there, then it’s going to be a tough night for Stevenson because he’s not as good in close.
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