stevenson5 By Tim Fletcher: WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (26-1, 21 KOs) doesn’t plan on taking it easy on the over-matched #9 WBC challenger Tommy Karpency (25-4-1, 14 KOs) this Friday night in their fight on Premier Boxing Champions on Spike from the Ricoh Coliseum, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Stevenson, 37, says he wants to score a knockout over the 29-year-old Karpency because that’s what the boxing fans want to see. Stevenson probably won’t have too many problems accomplishing that goal because Karpency is really out of his class in this fight, and it’s going to be tough for him to last long given the huge power advantage Stevenson has.

“I want to win by knockout because knockouts sell,” said Stevenson. “(Late trainer) Emanuel (Steward) always told me that. Knockouts sell. So I’m going to get in the ring and try to win by knockout. If not, I can box. It’s not a problem for me.”

Karpency has a pretty good chin. He’s only been stopped once in his 9-year pro career by Andrzej Fonfara in a 7th round knockout in November 2007. Karpency has losses to Karo Murat, Nathan Cleverly, and Rayco Saunders. He avenged the loss to Saunders. Losing to those fighters is nothing to be ashamed of because there all good fighters.

Last year, Karpency shocked the boxing world with a 10 round split decision over Chad Dawson. It wasn’t a prime Dawson, but a win is a win. Karpency looked good in the fight and was able to shake the 33-year-old Dawson up several times with hard punches.

It’s interesting to note that Dawson hasn’t fought since then. If that was Dawson’s last fight of his career then Karpency can feel proud that he sent a good fighter into retirement.

Stevenson says he’s not taking Karpency lightly because he knows that he’s got good boxing skills, and he was impressed with his win over Dawson.

“He’s a good pure boxer,” Stevenson said about Karpency via thestar.com. “He’s a southpaw. People see him and don’t respect him, but people have to respect him because he’s ranked No.9. He beat Chad Dawson, so this guy is very dangerous.

I’m taking this guy very seriously, because he’s coming to fight, and it’s not the first time he’s fought for a world title. He’s learned and can understand now that it’s the second time. I know he’s be training. I’m not underestimating the guy and I’m training very hard for him,” Stevenson said.

The training is about over for both fighters. There’s only one more day before the big fight, and it’s going to be interesting to see what Karpency’s got to try and unseat Stevenson. It’s now or never for Karpency. He fought for a world title and lost to former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision in 2012.

If Karpency loses to Stevenson, it’ll likely be his last shot at a world title. I can’t imagine Karpency getting another crack at a title. He was fortunate to get this one. Stevenson picked him out in a voluntary defense.

Also on the card is unbeaten welterweight contender Errol Spence Jr. (17-0, 14 KOs) facing Chris Van Heerden (23-1-1, 12 KOs) in a 10 round bout. This is arguably Spence’s toughest opponent of his short 3-year pro career. Spence is coming off of a 3rd round stoppage of junior middleweight Phil Lo Greco last June.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is very high on Spence, and thinks he’s going to be one of the top welterweights in the future. He’s already ranked #8 by the World Boxing Association, so it’s only a matter of time before he gets a title shot if he keeps winning.