By Gav Duthie: We are going round in circles in watching the career of the brilliant but stagnant Adonis Stevenson. The big punching Canadian destroyed Andrezj Fonfara in 2 rounds a few Saturdays ago in a senseless rematch that nobody needed to see. Stevenson is 39 years old and we are currently seeing him once a year against average opposition.
I often feel sorry for strong champions without decent potential opponents. You can only beat whats there but Light heavyweight is probably the best division in boxing right now. The 175lb category boasts Sergey Kovalev, Andre Ward, Artur Beterbiev, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Eleider Alvarez, Jean Pascal, Joe Smith Jnr, Sullivan Barrera, Badou Jack, Nathan Cleverly and Jurgen Braehmer. Despite this depth of competition Stevenson hasn’t beaten anyone in the current top 10 with his last win of real significance coming in 2013 against Tony Bellew.
A senseless rematch
The first fight between Adonis Stevenson and Fonfara 3 years ago was very entertaining. ‘Superman’ Stevenson needed to get up off the floor to win a unanimous decision and at that point an immediate rematch was a viable option. Fonfara to be fair impressed the year after in beating both Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr and Nathan Cleverly and was considered top 5 in the division. Unfortunately both fights were wars and boxers can decline overnight with a style like Fonfara’s. He was destroyed in 1 round by Joe Smith Jnr last year and only beat a now irrelevant Chad Dawson in his comeback. There are at least a dozen fighters who were more deserving of a shot at Stevenson, one was on the undercard, Eleider Alvarez. Fonfara’s destruction was entirely predictable.
WBC Light Heavyweight Rankings
Mandatory: Eleider Alvarez
2. Oleksandr Gvozdyk
3. Joe Smith Jnr
4. Badou Jack
5. Artur Beterbiev
6. Andrezj Fonfara
7. Sullivan Barrera
8. Marcus Browne
9. Sean Monaghan
10. Lucian Bute
Historically the WBC title was always seen as the main title and Adonis Stevenson plays on that. He calls himself the real champ, the lineal champ even though Sergey Kovalev and now Andre Ward holds the other three. These days fans see the main 4 titles as the same, no one more important than the other. What is different about the organizations is that the WBC in particular rarely enforces mandatory defenses. This can work both ways as it allows the champion to chase big fights but it also allows them to take easy fights which is exactly what Stevenson has been doing.
Fights in the division
Andre Ward in winning his rematch against Sergey Kovalev has already surpassed Stevenson despite only a handful of fights in the division. Another big upcoming contest is between highly ranked contenders Sullivan Barrera and Joe Smith Jnr. The winner of this would be a great fight for Stevenson.
Whats Next?
Stevenson only turned professional at the ripe age of 28 and has achieved a lot. His legacy fights ,however, are in danger of passing him by. Stevenson is promoted by the little known Yvon Michel and his company GYM based put of his native Canada. Fortunately Michel now also promotes mandatory challenger Eleider Alvarez. The Colombian Alvarez would have likely signed based on the notion he could fight Adonis sooner rather than later. The match has been avoided up until now despite his mandatory position and promotional links. Perhaps they were trying to raise the profile of the talented but little known Alvarez. Surely convincing wins over Canadian duo Lucian Bute and Jean Pascal will have done enough to make this fight viable. If this fight doesn’t happen we will have to accept that Stevenson will never have a career defining scrap.