By Stanley White: WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis ‘Superman’ Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) will be defending his title against Badou Jack (22-1-2, 13 KOs) in February or March of 2018, according to RingTV.
Stevenson, 40, is being given clearance by the World Boxing Council to side step his #1 WBC mandatory challenger Eleider Alvarez to take the fight with the 34-year-old Jack.
The possible venue for the Stevenson vs. Jack fight could be Brooklyn, New York or Quebec. Jack is from Sweden, but he now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s unclear whether Jack has a large fan base in New York. I’d say it’s unlikely. Stevenson-Jack would be better off being staged in Quebec, Canada. That’s where Stevenson’s boxing fans are located.
Alvarez, 33, could have gotten his title shot against Stevenson 2 years ago, but he’s taken step aside money to let him fight other guys like Andrzej Fonfara, Thomas Williams Jr. and Tommy Karpency.
Stevenson has been taking zero in the way of risks when it comes to his fights. Stevenson has done an admirable job of showing how a fighter can hold onto his title for years without taking on any real threats. If Stevenson can do this, then other champions can as well, as long as they’re willing to give their mandatory challengers step aside money.
This is clearly the best opponent Stevenson will have faced ever during his career. Up until now, Stevenson’s toughest fights have come against Tony Bellew and Andrzej Fonfara, 2 simple sluggers.
Alvarez will fight Oleksandr Gvozdyk with the winner fighting the winner of the Stevenson vs. Jack fight. It’s not such a great deal for Alvarez to have to face a dangerous fighter like Gvozdyk to get a title shot against Stevenson, but that’s how it goes. Alvarez should have taken the title shot against Stevenson 2 years ago instead of stepping aside for him to fight other guys.
Jack is coming off a 5th round knockout win over WBA light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly on August 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jack won the WBA title, and then vacated the belt. The title is now in the possession of Dmitry Bivol. If Jack wants to win the belt again, he’ll need to go through the hard hitting Bivol to win it. In Jack’s win before that, he fought to a grueling 12 round draw against former IBF super middleweight champion James ‘Chunky’ DeGale last January. Jack fought well enough to deserve the win in the eyes of a lot of the boxing fans.
If Jack can handle the punching power and speed of the southpaw Stevenson, he’ll have a chance of winning this fight. Jack seems to be stronger at light heavyweight compared to when he was fighting at super middleweight. Jack was knocked out 3 years ago by the big puncher Derek Edwards by a 1st round knockout in 2014. Jack is vulnerable early in his fights. Since Stevenson has shown no interest in fighting the other top light heavyweights, Jack could be the only guy that stands in his way from holding onto his WBC title for years to come.
Only 2 fighters have gone the distance with Stevenson in the last 6 years, and that’s Sakio Bika and Andrzej Fonara. It would be a moral victory for Jack if he can go 12 rounds with Stevenson.