Adonis Stevenson´s Gameplan? KNOCKOUT

Light heavyweight titlist Adonis Stevenson answered queries on a Tuesday conference call to hype this Saturday’s showdown against Andrezej Fonfara, which will screen on Showtime.

The 23-1 lefty, aged 36, fights at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

He said that his prep has been great, and that it hasn’t been hard to focus on the bout. He said he goes one fight at a time. The boxer sort of ducked a question about him vs. Sergey Kovalev, and he doesn’t agree with anyone saying he is ducking Kovalev, though. He said that his advisors are super smart, and make the smart deals, and said he will let Al Haymon and Yvon Michel deal with the pending lawsuit, which has been lodged by Main Events, stemming from the blown-up Adonis-Kovalev scrap.

I asked Adonis to give us a scouting report on Fonfara. “I don’t know, I’m going to knock him out, I don’t have a game plan, I’m going to knock him out,” he said.

To get a sense of the stakes…is a fight against Bernard Hopkins next? “I don’t care about Hopkins now, I’m not overlooking nobody..After the fight I can talk about Hopkins.”

And one day, will he fight Kovalev? “Oh yeah, of course, I will fight anybody,” he said.

I also wondered, if Manny Steward were still training him, and were to be in his corner Saturday, what would he say? “Knock him out! Go get the knockout…people love knockouts.”

You always knew someone was getting kayoed in a Mike Tyson fight, he said, and he likes to have the same thought about him. “Somebody’s going to get knocked out,” he said, and he’s darn sure it’ll be Fonfara.

The WBC champ Adonis comes in off a TKO6 win over Tony Bellew, on November 30, 2013. He was on track to consolidate crowns with Kovalev, but signed on with advisor Al Haymon, and shifted course, probably to a faceoff with someone else.

He spoke about his mentor, the late Steward. The fighter said he lived at his home and learned about life from him, and enjoyed hearing from Manny that he would be a future star. “Emanuel had good eyes,” he said.

Fonfara, a Pole living in Chicago, owns a 25-2 mark. He addressed the press. He said his camp is going right, and he trained in Chicago and then Big Bear and now Canada. Fonfara also said he doesn’t feel overlooked, and people will see his quality on Saturday.

Michel said Adonis’ power is increasing and he now exhibits more power against better quality fighters.

“He is an exceptional puncher with both hands,” Michel said, noting that all fighters’ strategy goes out the window the first time he gets hit. He said that the Main Events suit contains lies, and that it helped promote his boxer. That will bring more viewers to Showtime, he said.

Chris Deblasio, of Showtime PR, boxing boss Stephen Espinoza, promoter Michel, and Fonfara’s rep Leon Margules were also on the call.

DeBlasio said that a two-fight Extreme card will kick off at 7 PM. Espinoza said that he wanted to feature Adonis for some time. He said he was going to fight on Showtime in 2012 but that went off the rails. Fonfara, he said, has skills and pop. He thinks the scrap will be tougher than many think it will be, noting that he said the same about the Matthysse-Molina and Mayweather-Maidana fights. He said he thinks all five bouts will be solid, in fact.

Espinoza said an Adonis loss wouldn’t be devastating, and that he wants a title unification, and doesn’t so much care who has them.

Michel said that he expects between 7-8,000 people at the Bell.

Margules, a co-promoter, said he thinks Fonfara is a great talent and he and the boxer believe he will beat Adonis. His wins over Glen Johnson and Gabriel Campillo are meaningful, Margules said. The fighter told Margules awhile back he wanted a crack at Adonis, in fact.

Follow Woods on Twitter. @Woodsy1069

WATCH RELATED VIDEOS ON BOXINGCHANNEL.TV