WBC orders Adonis Stevenson vs. Eleider Alvarez fight

By Boxing News - 02/27/2017 - Comments

Image: WBC orders Adonis Stevenson vs. Eleider Alvarez fight

By Jeff Aranow: The World Boxing Council has ordered free negotiations to begin between WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis “Super Man” Stevenson (28-1, 23 KOs) and his #1 WBC mandatory challenger Eleider Alvarez (22-0, 11 KOs) for a fight between them. The two fighters have until March 24 to come to an agreement in the negotiations otherwise a purse bid is scheduled on that date in Mexico City.

Alvarez, 32, defeated Lucian Bute by a 5th round knockout last Friday night on February 24 in their WBC light heavyweight eliminator bout at the Centre Videotron, Quebec City, Canada. It wasn’t surprising that Alvarez defeated the 36-year-old Bute, because the former IBF super middleweight champion hadn’t won a fight since 2015. What was a surprise was how easy it was for Alvarez. He had no problems at all in defeating Bute. It was an easy for him Alvarez. He staggered Bute in round 5 and then put him down on the canvas with a right hand for the knockout.

Stevenson will be fighting on April 29 at the Nassau Veterans Colisseum, in Long Island, New York. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is hoping that his fighter former WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack is the next opponent for Stevenson, although Joe Smith Jr. is the name that is being mentioned for the champion’s next fight.

The 39-year-old Stevenson hasn’t fought since stopping Thomas Williams Jr. in the 4th round on July 29 last year in Quebec City. Stevenson fought only once in 2016, and he needs to get back into the ring. An entire year will have flown by if Stevenson doesn’t fight soon. At his age, he needs to be a lot more active than fighting once a year. Stevenson has defended his WBC title seven times successfully. His best opponent thus far was Tony Bellew, who he stopped in the 6th round in 2013.

Alvarez looks pretty good, but not at the level of Stevenson or some of the other top contenders in the division. The WBC gave Alvarez a gift by letting him fight Bute in the WBC eliminator rather than someone like Artur Beterbiev or Joe Smith. It would have been a lot harder for Alvarez if he had to go through one of those fighters in the WBC eliminator bout instead of the soon to be 37-year-old Bute.

Stevenson says he’d like to fight Andre Ward. However, the feelings aren’t mutual. Ward feels like the Stevenson fight would be a step down for him from his last fight against Sergey Kovalev. Ward notes that Stevenson passed up the chance to fight Kovalev when he had the chance to fight him.