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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Bika: "Stevenson
Is Nervous, Worried And Scared"
Stevenson: "Bika Will Be Hurt Like He Has Never Been"
By Daniel Cloutier
QUÉBEC CITY, Canada — The light heavyweights Adonis
Stevenson and Sakio Bika are clearly on fire at few hours
before their match up. Both look more than confident to win,
both look impatient to hear the first bell of the fight.
Saturday afternoon in the ring of the old Québec City
Colisée, Stevenson (25-1-0) will proceed to the fifth
defence of his WBC light heavyweight championship of the
world. Bika (32-6-3), a former WBC super middleweight (168
pounds) champion of the world, is determined to dethrone the
Montrealer southpaw as WBC 175 pounds world champion.
“Stevenson is clearly nervous and worried at few hours
before the bout, said Bika, a boxer from Cameron living in
Australia. Sincerely, I think he is very worried since he
has been informed that Andre Ward revealed I have been the
most difficult opponent of his career. And when he said
that, Ward was ranked third best fighter pound for pound in
the world behind Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
And the simple fact Stevenson accused me to be a dirty
fighter few days ago, is proving he is scared to fight me.
Stevenson knows that if there are a fighter who can put him
in trouble, a fighter who he can knock him out, it’s me. I
have the experience, the talent, the persistence and the
energy to put him in serious trouble. I came here to win the
WBC light heavyweight championship of the world, and I will
achieve it. “
Few days ago, Bika said publicly that Stevenson has no chin.
Stevenson thinks Bika is mixing reality and fiction. “I know
Bika has a huge desire to dethrone me as WBC champion of the
world, but he is mixing reality and fiction, said the
Montrealer at the weight in. Bika is a very aggressive and
persistent fighter, but he never faced a destroyer puncher
like me. Bika mentioned you many times he fought five world
champions, he mentioned you many times he has been involved
in the Showtime Super Six tournament, insisting on the fact
that nobody has been able to knock him out. But you know as
me that Tavoris Cloud and Tony Bellew also were bragging
that nobody has been able to knock them out… before I fought
them. I stopped both in less than seven rounds. My mission
is to become the first one to beat Bika by KO or TKO, and I
will accomplish my mission. Each time Bika will commit a
technical mistake in being careless or over aggressive, I
will punish him severely. Trust me, he will be seriously
hurt in that bout, hurt like he has never been so far in his
career.”
At the weight in, Stevenson posted an official weight of
174.4 pound, versus 174.6 for Bika, who will fight for the
first time in the light heavyweight division. Bika was eight
ounces over the weight’s limit when he put his feet on the
scale, but he made the correction in the following hour.
“Since many years, I was fighting in the super middleweight
division, at 168 pounds, but at 35 years old, it’s was time
for me to move up at 175 pounds, said Bika one hour after
the weight in. I know I will be stronger physically than I
was at 168 pounds, I will hit harder and I will be more
energetic. When the fight will started, Stevenson will
sweated like he never did in the last two years. He will be
so nervous. He will understand the signification of the
great comments Andre Ward did on me.”
Sugar Hill, Stevenson’s trainer, has the conviction that his
boxer feels perfect mentally and physically at few hours of
the moment of the truth. “Adonis nervous, worried and
scared? Come on! Bika is simply not realistic, said Hill.
Adonis is just impatient to go in the ring to hear the first
bell, and prove to the world he is the real master of the
light heavyweight division. I said it and I gonna repeat it:
Adonis will become the first fighter to beat Bika by KO or
TKO. Adonis is the most powerful puncher of the light
heavyweight division, he is one the most destroyer puncher
pound for pound in the world, and he has never been so good
technically and strategically. i am not worried at all for
my fighter. “
Stevenson is supposed to get $3 million for that bout, Bika
around one milllion.
It's the second time Bika is fighting in Canada. In 2007 at
Bell Centre in Montréal, he lost by unanimous decision
against the Montrealer Romanian Lucian Bute (31-2-0) in an
IBF super middleweight elimination bout.
The Montrealer Mike Griffin will be the referee of the main
event. The judges will be the Texans Glen Rick Crocker and
Don Griffin, and the Montrealer Jack Woodburn.
The semi-final of this boxing show televise by CBS will
involved the Montrealer Russian Arthur Beterbiev (7-0-0),
who is NABA, NABO and IBF North American light heavyweight
champion. It will be an IBF elimination fight for the
position number two in the ratings. Beterbiev, who is the
only light heavyweight to be ranked in the «Top 10» in the
world (7th by the WBC) with only seven bouts of experience
in pro boxing, will face the biggest challenge of his
career. He will fight the former WBA champion of the world,
the Spanish Gabriel Campillo (25-6-1), who has been involved
in four world championship bouts. Campillo got a record of
2-2 in world championship bouts, and his two defeats has
been by split decision.
Campillo has 211 rounds of experience in pro boxing, against
only 15 for Beterbiev.
The preliminaries bouts will involved the welterweight
Julian Williams (18-0-1), from Philadelphia, the
welterweight Kevin Bizier (23-2-0), from Québec City, the
heavyweight Oscar Rivas (15-0-0), from Montréal, the super
welterweight Sébastien Bouchard (9-1-0), from Baie
Saint-Paul, Québec, the super welterweight Custio Clayton
(2-0-0), from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the middleweight
Jean Michael Poulin (1-0-0), the super bantamweight Vislan
Dalkhaev (1-0-0) and the super middleweight Shakeel Phinn
(1-0-0), all from Montréal.
Williams will face Joey Hernandez (24-2-1), from Miami,
Bizier will meet Fouadel Massoudi ((12-4-0), from France,
Rivas will be opposed to the German Oezcan Cetinkaya
(19-9-2), Bouchard will fight the French Denis Farias
(19-6-2), Clayton will challenge Ronald Berti (4-3-1), from
Belgium, Poulin will face the Montrealer Michel Tsalla
(1-9-2), Dalkhaev will fight the French Adel Hadjouis
(7-3-0), and finally, Phinn will try to get his second win
against Roody Rene (0-2-1), from Ottawa.
At the weight in, Beterbiev posted a weight of 175 pounds,
Campillo 174.6, Williams 154.6, Hernandez 155, Bizier 149.4,
Massoudi 148.6, Rivas 251.2, Cetinkaya 219.4, Poulin 159.4,
Tsalla 159.2, Bouchard 149, Farias 149.2, Clayton 151.8,
Berti 151.6, Phinn 168 and finally, Rene 168.
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