With The Draw, Adonis Can
Keep Milking The System
By William Trillo
As defined by UrbanDictionary.com
Milking The System: thinking that life owes you a free ride…
using every excuse in the book to get what you want…
Like most of the boxing community, including the majority of his hometown fans in Montreal, I was hopeful that Badou Jack would be the “Kryponite” that would rid us all of the blight that has become Adonis “Superman” Stevenson. Outside of GYM promoter Yvon Michel and maybe, and I do mean MAYBE, his manager/advisor at PBC, it’s doubtful anyone would miss the often inactive Light Heavyweight Champion.
Just check out this text message conversation I had shortly after the fight from a very connected to boxing friend who was looking for the result of the fight:
Boxing Friend: Hello Bill, did Jack win already?
Me: It’s freekin’ close, scores are coming.
BF: Really? Did he (Jack) look good?
Me: Here it comes…Majority Draw.
BF: WOW!!
Me: Yup. Stupid Adonis keeps his belt.
BF: Sh*t
Me: Jack had him and blew it…but in the 8th or 9th round Adonis hit Jack with a freaking hard body shot and after that Jack was not as aggressive…it really hurt him.
BF: I bet it did…well it will be another big payday for these guys.
Me: Yup
BF: Was it a good fight?
Me: It started pretty lousy but got good in the end.
BF: Oh man, well that means they will get another day in a rematch. Who do you think has the advantage based on this fight?
Me: If Jack would have started earlier he would have beat Adonis. He waited too long and gave away a lot of early rounds.
BF: OK…yeah…it might be because he was cautious with Stevensons power…but finding a way to neutralize the power could help win early rounds.
Me: Yes…that is what it was…he was waiting for Adomis to get tired. It almost worked, but he waited too long….and then that one body shot…
BF: And that’s all it is? After all this time and drama with Stevenson and he is still the champ…SH*T!
Me: Tell me about it…I KNOW!!
BF: Now Adonis will talk like he is the greatest fighter and not fight for another year!
ME: Yup
BF: And now he will be the longest reigning champion! Hahahaha! You know he is second right behind GGG for longest reigning champ?
ME: Yup
BF: This sucks!
Me: Yup…it sure does.
My well connected friend hit the nail on the head. Adonis will milk the system for another year or more and spew some unintelligible rant about how he is the greatest fighter in the Light Heavy Division. In the meantime he is already using this draw as his open door to duck the winner of Kovalev vs. Alvarez as he will try to sell the rematch with Jack as the “Real” title fight at 175.
That’s BS and everyone in boxing knows it, but thanks to a pathetic game plan by Jack we are going to have to somehow swallow the inevitable rematch.
And yes…I put the onus of the blame on Badou. Reports coming out of Montreal early this month had Adonis barely training at all. Stevenson himself admitted after the fight he only had a three week training camp. If Jack can’t beat a guy with less than a month in the gym then he might want to reconsider taking another fight at 175.
For that matter, the best punch Jack landed all night was flush on the chin of an unsuspecting referee and the ref shook off that blow without so much as a wobble. If Jack can’t drop the ref with his best shot to the jaw, how in the world does he expect to put a dent in anyone at 175 pounds?
So…every time you hear Adonis opening his pie hole over the course of the coming year, (if not longer), remember to save a good portion of your angst for Jack who is just as responsible for this mess as anyone.
For the record, in my “always humble” opinion, I believe the judges got this one right as neither guy did enough to win. Unfortunately for us, that means Stevenson gets to keep his clutches on the strap.
The truth is….given this outcome of a draw, I would have rather had Adonis win the fight and then be forced to fight the winner of Kovalev vs. Alvarez or go away, with the latter being the preferred choice.
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