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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Stevenson Favorite At 15 To 1;
Karpency Wants To Win For USA
By Daniel Cloutier
TORONTO - Adonis Stevenson is established huge favorite to
win Friday evening in the ring of the Ricoh Coliseum in
Toronto, but for him, the Las Vegas bookies odds mean
absolutely nothing. The Montrealer southpaw is favorite by
15 to 1 against the American Tommy Karpency (25-4-1), the
WBC # nine contender.
Stevenson (26-1-0), who will proceed to the sixth defense of
his WBC light heavyweight championship of the world, refuse
to believe he will have a easy bout.
“The Las Vegas bookies would put me favorite by 100 to one,
I would not care at all, said Stevenson at the weight in.
Each boxing fight is a risk, then, I got a perfect mental
and physical preparation like it is for every fights. I am
sure Karpency is determinate at 100% to surprise me, then, I
got to take him seriously. I cannot make mistakes. This
fight is crucial for me, because next year, I want
absolutely to be involved in an unification world titles
fights with Sergey Kovalev. If I would lose this fight with
Karpency for the simple reason I took him lightly, I would
see my dream to unify the light heavyweight championships of
the world become a nightmare. If there boxing fans who think
it will be a walk in the park for me, they are so wrong. I
really believe I gonna win by KO or TKO, but to get a clear
win, I will have to fight with a perfect concentration and
intensity, like I am use to do it. And it’s exactly what I
gonna do. For sure, I won’t let Karpency waste my chance to
fight in an unification world titles fights in 2016.”
Karpency really want to cause a huge surprise Friday
evening. “Stevenson is largely favorite, the pressure will
be on his shoulders, said Karpency. It will be fun for me,
because I will go in the ring to cause a huge surprise. I am
very confident to cause this surprise. I got a great
preparation, and I know now i have the maturity necessary to
win a world championship fight and win against the biggest
names of the light heavyweight division. I made huge
progress since two years, and you will know what I mean when
the fight will goes on Friday evening. My win last October
at the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut against Chad Dawson
(split decision), helped me to make a big step on the
international scene. I said it and I repeat it, I know now I
am part of the boxing «major leagues». And for me, it’s
absolutely crucial to win for our nation. September 11th is
the anniversiary of the one of the worst tragedy lived by
the Americans during the last century. As you know, in 2001,
New York and Washington has been hit by terrorist attacks.
When the fight will be over, and I will be the new WBC
champion of the world, I will certainly dedicate my win to
our nation.”
At the weight in held by the WBC championship committee and
the Ontario Athletic Commission, Stevenson posted a weight
of 175 pounds, versus 174.5 for Karpency.
“Adonis is not young anymore, but I really believe he his
better than ever actually, said the Stevenson’s trainer,
Sugar Hill. Technically and statically, you will see in
action an Adonis Stevenson more productive offensively and
better defensively. Adonis never stopped to try to improve
his technique and strategies in the gym. He is so
determinate. And for him, each bout is crucial, because he
is so hungry of success. He wants so much to become the
light heavyweight number one on the planet, and for that, he
got to win an unification world titles against Sergey
Kovalev in 2016. I know it’s a dream for him. Friday
evening, you will see in action an Adonis Stevenson more
destructive than ever. More and more, he will attack with
series of punches instead one punch at the time.”
Just before the fight Stevenson-Karpency, the good American
prospect Errol Spence Jr. (17-0-0), a Texan, will face the
welterweight South African Chris Van Heeden (23-1-1) in a 10
rounds bouts, and super bantamweight Tyson Cave (27-3-0),
from Halifax, Nova Scotia, will fight the Argentinian Nestor
Paniagua (25-8-2), also in a 10 rounds fight.
“I am positive I gonna win clearly that bout, but it’s not
enough for me, said Spence. I want absolutely to give to the
crowd a good show. I am really prepared for that.”
Heeden said: “I know Spence is considered as a future of the
welterweight division, but I have also my place among the
elite of the division, and I am expecting to get out of the
ring in the winning shoes. I think the crowd will assist to
an intense and spectacular fight.”
The preliminaries bouts will involved: the heavyweight
Carman Dillon (8-2-0), from Toronto, the former WBA super
lightweight champion of the world , the New Yorker Vivian
Harris (32-10-2), the Montrealer welterweight Jo Jo Dan
(34-3-0), the Montrealer super welterweight Custio Clayton
(4-0-0), the featherweight Sandy Tsagouris (12-2-0), from
Toronto, the heavyweight Oleksandr Teslenko, also from
Toronto, and the super welterweight Mikael Affainie (2-0-0),
from Halifax.
Dillon will face the veteran Donovan Ruddock (40-5-1), from
Toronto, Dan will meet Jake Giuriceu (17-4-1), from
Youngstown, Ohio, Clayton will fight Davide Doria (12-0-1),
from Germany, Tsagouris will be opposed to the Australian
Shannon O’Connell (11-3-0), Teslenko will face the Hungarian
Athilla Pinter (5-2-0) and Affainie will meet Shane Upshaw
(1-1-4), from Halifax.
The referee of the main event will be Hector Afu, from
Panama, and the judges will be Robert Tapper, from Canada,
Humberto Olivares, from Mexico, and Nathan Palmer, from USA.
The supervisor of the main event will be the New Yorker
Robert Yalen, from the WBC.
At the weight in, Spence Jr. got an official weight of
146.5, Van Heerden 146.5, Dillon 234 and Ruddock 242.5
The fighters involved in the preliminaries bouts will go on
the scale Friday afternoon, like required by rules of the
Ontario Athletic Commission.
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