Stevenson vs. George results: Adonis wins but looks flawed

By Boxing News - 10/12/2012 - Comments

Image: Stevenson vs. George results: Adonis wins but looks flawedBy Scott Gilfoid: Adonis Stevenson (19-1, 16 KO’s) did what pretty much any contender in the division would have done last night in stopping fringe contender Don George (23-3-1, 20 KO’s) in the 12th round at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. The victory earns the 35-year-old Stevenson the mandatory spot to fight IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch next year.

I can’t say I was impressed with what I saw of Stevenson, not in the least. Although he did knock the punching bag-like George down five times in the fight, he showed a number of weaknesses that tells me that he won’t stand a chance against Froch next year. Stevenson looked like a poor man’s Peter Quillin with his tendency to throw pretty much nothing but pot shot left hands. You could see he was trying to box by throwing jabs, and that’s probably what kept Stevenson from getting knocked out. But his jab is nothing special, his height is limited, his reach is limited, he can’t throw right hands to save his life and doesn’t look good at all when his opponent is throwing punches.

It was good for Stevenson that George rarely throws punches because when he was throwing shots, Stevenson would get hit cleanly and would back up immediately and just take shots. To say that Stevenson’s defense is horrible is putting it lightly. He can’t block shots and he just goes into the shutdown mode when his opponents are throwing shots at him. This is the same Stevenson that journeyman Darnell Boone knocked out in the 2nd round two years ago. The difference between Boone and George, however, is that Boone had the sense enough to throw punches consistently against Stevenson instead of just standing there with his gloves up like a sparring partner and letting Stevenson get off with his shots.

George was clearly bothered by Stevenson’s body punching. That was why George hit the canvas twice in the 5th, another time in the 6th. In the 12th, Stevenson was basically running at an exhausted and beaten up George and just throwing wild shots with most of them missing. George was too forgone at that point to take advantage of Stevenson’s primitive attack otherwise he would have had a good chance of knocking Stevenson out.

Stevenson was badly hurt at the end of the 5th when he forgot all about his defense after knocking George down twice in the round. George hit him with a couple solid right hands, but it was enough to have Stevenson ready to go. It showed you how fragile Stevenson’s chin is. That guy can dish it out but he sure can’t take it.

Overall, Stevenson looked beyond horrible. I think the following super middleweights would easily beat this guy:

Carl Froch
Andre Dirrell
Anthony Dirrell
Andre Ward
Thomas Oosthuizen
George Groves
James DeGale
Edwin Rodriguez
Lucian Bute
Mikkel Kessler
Arthur Abraham
Glen Johnson- Yes, I know he’s retired but he still beats Stevenson
Peter Quillin
Sakio Bika
Kelly Pavlik

I can see these super middleweights giving Stevenson a run for his money:

Brian Magee
Dimitri Sartison
Karoly Balszay
Renan St Juste
Rowland Bryant
Mohammed Ali Ndiaye



Comments are closed.