Stevenson’s struggles against Fonfara didn’t surprise Duva

(Photo Credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) By Dan Ambrose: Kathy Duva of Main Events, the promoter for WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (24-0, 22 KO’s), says she’s not surprised that WBC 175lb champion Adonis Stevenson (24-1, 20 KO’s) almost lost his fight last Saturday night against Andrzej Fonfara in Montreal, Canada.

She felt that Stevenson would falter as soon as he fought someone that could punch hard, and that’s she was trying to set up a fight between Kovalev and Stevenson when the two were with HBO. Stevenson moved over to Showtime before she could set that fight up, and he’s now no longer able to fight Kovalev because of the Showtime-HBO barrier.

“I had tried to push HBO to go straight to the Kovalev-Stevenson fight since the fall because I was certain that Stevenson would lose to, or be embarrassed by, just about anyone who could punch just a little bit,” Duva said to Dan Rafael of ESPN. “He sure proved me right [Saturday] night. I get the feeling that the boys at HBO thought I was delusional. Probably not so much anymore.”

Stevenson was down on the canvas in the 9th round after Fonfara hit him with a hard right hand to the head. The knockdown showed that Stevenson has a chin problem that would likely be further exposed if he were to fight Kovalev.

Duva is trying to get a fight between Kovalev and Stevenson, but it looks likely that Stevenson will be able to fight for the remainder of his career without having to take that dangerous fight. The 36-year-old Stevenson probably doesn’t have too much time left at the top of the division. Fighters age quickly when they get to their mid-30s, and it won’t be long before Stevenson is losing to Fonrara types instead of struggling for victories.

Stevenson may not even get by 49-year-old Bernard Hopkins for their fight later on this year. All Hopkins has to do in order to beat Stevenson is sit down on his punches and Stevenson will be on the canvas.