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Coutier’s Canada Corner
Adonis Stevenson: "Bellew Will
Need To Be Careful In The Ring, Or The Fight Will Be Short"
By Daniel Cloutier
MONTRÉAL - Adonis Stevenson needed to post a maximum weight
of 184 pounds Saturday afternoon for the 7 day weigh in
required by the WBC championship committee, and he has
respected perfectly that rule.The Montreal southpaw posted a
weight of 183.6 pounds at the Sheraton Hotel in Laval
(northern suburb of Montréal), in presence of a supervisor
of the Québec Regie of sports fights.
At the official weight in next Friday in Québec City
Stevenson obviously, will be obliged to respect the limit of
weight of the light heavyweight division, 175 pounds. Next
Saturday in the ring of the Québec City Colisée, Stevenson
will become the only fighter on the planet this year to
participate to a third world Championship bout in a span of
six months.
Stevenson (22-1-0) will defend his WBC light heavyweight
championship of the world against his mandatory challenger,
the British Tony Bellew (20-1-1). “At one week of my third
world championship bout disputed in six months, I feel great
physically and mentally,” said Stevenson. “No doubt in my
mind I will leave Québec City with my belt in my luggage.’
June 8th at Bell Centre, Stevenson became the first fighter
to beat Chad Dawson (31-3-0) in less than a round. Stevenson
floored Dawson and stopped him in 76 seconds. September
28th, again at Bell Centre, Stevenson became the first
fighter to stop Tavoris Cloud (24-2-0). The boxer from
Tallahassee, Florida, who was bleeding terribly in the 6th
round, surrounded at the end of the 7th round. “Dawson,
Cloud and Bellew have different styles, but as you have
observed it this year, I am pretty good to adjust myself to
the opponent's style,” said Stevenson. “And you will see how
I will adjust myself very fast to the Bellew's style next
Saturday.”
Bellew is a natural attacker who keeps his hands pretty low.
“In many fights Bellew was fighting very aggressively, and
he was not protecting very well his head,” said Stevenson.
“I think I will do the otherwise in Québec City. I am pretty
sure he will fight carefully, in keeping his hands high. He
knows my reputation, he knows I am an explosive puncher. If
he is careless, if he tries to challenge my punches, the
fight will be very short. But a thing is absolutely sure in
my mind: no matter if Bellew fights carefully or not, I will
be the winner at the end.”
HBO will televise two fights in Québec City: just before the
fight Stevenson-Bellew, the Russian Sergey Kovalev (22-0-1)
will defend his WBO light heavyweight championship of the
world against the Ukrainian Ismayl Sillakh (21-1-0).
In the most important preliminary bout of the evening, Kevin
Bizier (21-0-0), from Québec City, who is NABA and IBF
Inter-Continental welterweight champion, will face the
Montrealer Jo Jo Dan (31-2-0) in an IBF elimination bout.
The winner will be ranked second contender by the IBF in the
147 pounds division.
In another important preliminary bout, the young
middleweight Montrealer David Lemieux (30-2-0) will fight
the Colombian Jose Miguel Torres (27-5-0).It will be a
punchers match up. Lemieux won 28 times by KO or TKO, Torres
24 times.
The welterweight Mikael Zewski (21-0-0), from Trois-Rivières.
Québec, the heavyweight Didier Bence (9-0-0), from Montréal,
the light heavyweight Artur Beterbiev (2-0-0), a Russian
living in Montréal since the summer, and the middleweight
Sébastien Bouchard (7-0-0), from Baie Saint-Paul, Québec,
will be involved in the first fights of the event.
Zewski will fight Ryan Lee Davis (24-11-3), from East
Saint-Louis, Illimois; Bence will face Éric Martel (9-3-0),
from Québec City; Beterbiev will have the Californian
William Ray Bailey (12-17-0) as opponent, and finally, we
will see a match up between Bouchard and Mohammed Sidi
Slimani (4-1-0), from Liège, Belgium.
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