Adonis “Superman” Stevenson (23-1 20KOs) is coming off the best year he has had in his seven years as a professional. In March, he avenged his lone loss to Darnell Boone repaying the knockout loss back to Boone in full, after stopping him in the sixth round. Then in June he challenged for the WBC Light heavyweight title against Chad Dawson. Stevenson’s first title shot ended abruptly, when he became the second man to stop Dawson, knocking him out with in the first moments of the first round. After those fights, Stevenson continued to shine stopping both Tavoris Cloud in his first title defense and Tony Bellew in his second.
It’s because of Stevenson’s activity, the caliber of his opponents, and the fashion he is winning these fights that have many choosing Stevenson as the proverbial Fight of the Year. Unfortunately for him, the competition is strong this year for that title. Just looking under the HBO banner you have a few fighters that you could consider. The one fighter giving him most competition, also happens to be in the same weight class (Light Heavyweight) and the fight fans want to see the most in that division; Sergey Kovalev .
When asked about his thoughts on the year Kovalev has had, he agrees he fought good competition but just not at the level that he has, Stevenson stated, “I’ve fought the much better fighters.” He continued, “He got good fights too but I fight the big names at Light Heavyweight”.
Over the past year both Stevenson and Kovalev has separated themselves from the rest of the pack at the 175lb limit. So it’s only natural that fans and media start beating the drum for the presumed top two fighters in the weight-class to compete, especially if the “cold war” between the promoters cannot be used as the excuse as it has so many times in the past.
Stevenson has yet to out-right turn down the idea of fighting Kovalev but he has instead turned his attention to Bernard Hopkins. Stevenson has stated that he would fight anyone but Hopkins would look good on his resume (even at age 49) and the money could be better fighting him. “You know I want to face Bernard Hopkins but if not Bernard Hopkins I have other options. I don’t care.“ Stevenson went on to say, “I am ready, I am here, so call my promoter and let’s make the fight happened and take care of business.”
