By Jim Dower: WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson’s title defense against #1 WBO, #3 WBC Andrzej Fonfara (25-3, 15 KO’s) brought in disappointing ratings on Showtime last Saturday night. Stevenson, 36, won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 116-109, 115-110, and 115-110 in a less than impressive performance from him. But the fight brought in just 672,000 viewers on Showtime, according to Nielson’s ratings.
Stevenson-Fonfara
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.
Fonfara with difficult task tonight against Stevenson
By Dan Ambrose: #1 WBO, #3 WBC, Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KO’s) has his work really cut out for him this Saturday night against WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 20 KO’s) in their Showtime televised bout at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Stevenson is a huge favorite in this fight for a good reason.
He’s been knocking out arguably better opposition than Fonfara for a while now and looking almost unbeatable. If there is a better fighter in the division then we haven’t seen him yet, because Stevenson appears to be the real deal. As for Fonfara, he’s pretty much a doomed fighter at this point unless he can find some kind of weakness in Stevenson’s armor that he can take advantage of.
Adonis Stevenson vs. Andrzej Fonfara this Saturday, May 24th in Montreal, Canada
By Allan Fox: WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 20 KO’s) will be defending his title this Saturday night against #1 WBO, #3 WBC Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KO’s) in a fight that should be entertaining while it lasts on Showtime Championship Boxing at 9:00 PM, May 24th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
Stevenson has blowing through his opposition with ease in the past year in destroying Tony Bellew, Tavoris Cloud, Chad Dawson and Darnell Boone by knockouts. There was concern initially whether Stevenson had the chin and the talent to beat the better fighters like Dawson and Cloud, but Stevenson showed clearly in those fights that he had more than enough talent to hang with those guys.
David Lemieux vs. Fernando Guerrero on Stevenson-Fonfara card on May 24th at Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada
By Scott Gilfoid: #8 IBF, #12 WBO, #15 WBC, middleweight contender David Lemieux (31-2, 29 KO’s) is getting bumped up a level in his competition by being matched up against former middleweight world title challenger Fernando Guerrero (26-2, 19 KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round bout on May 24th on the undercard of the Adonis Stevenson vs. Andrzej Fonfara headliner bout at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
Lemieux, 25, suffered a couple of losses three years ago to Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine when he attempted to step it up from the weak opposition that he’d been feasting on up until then. Following that loss, Lemieux’s management put him back on the diet of weak opposition, and not surprisingly he’s looking good again.
Adonis Stevenson’s move to Showtime will keep him a champion for a long time
By Dan Ambrose: WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 20 KO’s) made a smart move in leaving HBO for Showtime this week. The move could end up keeping Stevenson as the WBC 175lb champion for a long time to come due to the lack of quality opponents that will be matched up against him. Had Stevenson stayed at HBO, he would have had to face WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev sooner or later, and that’s a fight that Stevenson could very well have lost.
With him moving to Showtime, the only fighter that Stevenson has to worry about is the soon to be 50-year-old Bernard Hopkins, and it’s impossible to say if Hopkins will ever fight him. Once Stevenson gets past the Hopkins bout, there is absolutely no one for him to fight.
Showtime reaches deal for Adonis Stevenson vs. Andrzej Fonfara fight
By Dan Ambrose: HBO chose not to renegotiate a contract with WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 20 KO’s), who is fighting Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KO’s) on May 4th at the Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. HBO had the option of taking this fight and keeping Stevenson with their network, but they passed up on the deal, according to Yahoo Sports. It’s possible that the asking price was too much to keep the 36-year-old Stevenson, who is now being managed by Al Haymon.
The loss of Stevenson from HBO means boxing fans won’t get a chance to see Stevenson vs. Sergey Kovalev fight each other, as Kovalev is with HBO. Showtime vice president of sports Stephen Espinosa said to Yahoo “There is a structure which allows us to continue for multiple fights beyond that fight.” The fight he’s talking about is the Fonfara fight, which honestly isn’t that big of a deal. That’s not a fight that will bring in big ratings no matter which network televises it.
Adonis Stevenson vs. Andrzej Fonfara on May 24th at Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada
By Allan Fox: WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 15 KO’s) will be defending his title against #1 WBC Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KO’s) on May 24th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. The fight isn’t the one that fans want to see, as they prefer to see Stevenson face WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev or IBF champion Bernard Hopkins. But it looks like Stevenson isn’t in a hurry to take the fight against Kovalev, so it could be a year or more before that fight takes place, if ever.
Stevenson makes good money just defending his titles against guys like Fonfara and Tony Bellew, and it’s not as important for him to take on a dangerous opponent that could potentially send him back into the contender ranks where the money is less.
Adonis Stevenson to fight Andrzej Fonfara next
By Allan Fox: WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 20 KO’s) will be having an easy title defense in his next fight against #4 Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KO’s) in a still to be determined date, according to Fightnews. This isn’t unexpected that Stevenson would be fighting the 26-year-old Fonfara next, but it’s still a little jarring to hear the news because it’s a step down from Stevenson’s last fight against Tony Bellew from last November.
Stevenson easily beat Bellew by a 6th round TKO. But Fonfara isn’t even at the same level as Bellew, and this could be over quickly with Stevenson stopping Fonfara in 2 or 3 rounds at the most.