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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Yvon Michel: "Karpency Is A
More
Complete Fighter Than Sakio Bika"
By Daniel Cloutier
TORONTO - The promoter of the GYM Group, Yvon Michel, said
his fighter Adonis Stevenson would play a very dangerous
game if he would take Tommy Karpency lightly. Friday evening
in the ring of the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, Stevenson
(26-1-0), a Montrealer, will proceed to the sixth defence of
his WBC light heavyweight championship of the world, in
fighting Karpency (25-4-1), a fighter from Adah,
Pennsylvania, ranked nine contender by the WBC in the 175
pounds division. It’s a matchup between two southpaws.
“Adonis said several times he is taking Karpency seriously,
and it a must, said Yvon Michel. Adonis would play a very
dangerous game in taking Karpency lightly. Karpency got a
solid performance against Chad Dawson last fall at the
Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, and it was not by accident.
Karpency is a more complete fighter then Sakio Bika, the
solid African fighter that Adonis beat by unanimous decision
last April in Québec City. Bika is extremely solid on his
legs, but Karpency is better than him technically. I am
expecting another win for Adonis Friday evening, but my
fighter will have to fight with intensity and perfect
concentration. I am totally disagree with the boxing fans or
boxing writers who said that Adonis will have a easy bout.
These people don’t know Karpency. He is a natural southpaw,
and it’s certainly more complicated to fight a style like
his than a lot of people believe it. And Adonis knows than
he cannot afford a lost at this stage of his career. As you
know, he has a big ambition, become unify light heavyweight
champion of the world, and he still WBC champion, we gonna
work at that file for nest year. I really believe that
Adonis is reserving us a solid performance Friday evening.”
Stevenson said it himself, he cannot afford to loose his WBC
crown, because he is dreaming to face the Russian Sergey
Kovalev (28-0-1) in 2016, in an unification of the WBC, WBA,
WBO and IBF light heavyweights championships of the world.
“If Adonis win clearly Friday evening, a fight
Kovalev-Stevenson will become our priority for 2016, said
Yvon Michel. At this point, a match up Kovalev-Stevenson is
possible at 50-50. The Kovalev’s clan got to accept a purse
bid . The winner of a purse bid could easily finalize a deal
with HBO (Kovalev) or Showtime (Stevenson).”
Bernard Barré, the scout of the GYM Group, knows Karpency
pretty well. “Karpency is a very determinate fighter, and he
is solid on his legs, said Barré. He proved it when he
fought Chad Dawson last year at the Foxwoods Casino.
However, he will be obliged to charge Adonis, who has a
longest reich than him. The crowd will assist to good action
with this inside boxing, but Karpency is facing a boxer
extremely strong physically, who is ranked among the five
most dangerous punchers pound for pound in the world. My
prediction? I think the fight will be intense and
spectacular in the first three or four rounds, but the
Stevenson’s power will make the difference after that. I
really believe Stevenson gonna win by KO or TKO between the
fifth and the seventh or eight rounds. No matter if the
opponent is a southpaw like him, Stevenson hurt all his
opponents. And Adonis is taking this fight very seriously,
because his dream is to become unify light heavyweight
champion of the world in 2016. He knows so much that he
would destroy his dream in losing against Karpency. Trust
me, Adonis will fight with a perfect concentration and a lot
of intensity Friday evening. All the boxing fans in Montréal
wish he gonna beat clearly Karpency, in hoping he will face
Kovalev next year.”
Sugar Hill, the Stevenson’s trainer, said: “Adonis got a
marvelous training camp like usual. This world champion is
taking his career so seriously. I am positive he will fight
Karpency with his normal energy, but with a better
technique. Like I said few days ago in Montréal, Adonis,
from now, will attack with more series of punches. It’s a
very bad news for his opponents. Adonis can hurt the rival
with each punch, then imagine what he can do if he throws
series of punches in the same attack Adonis is not a young
fighter (38 years old in few days), but he still want to
improve his technique and strategies fight after fight.
Trust me, on the international scene, Adonis is certainly
one of the more determinate fighters. It’s not by accident
that he won the six world championships involving him so
far. And I really believe he will achieve more in 2016.
Imagine how much he will be popular around the world if he
becomes WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion of
the world.”
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