Why Adonis Is Never In A Boring Fight, and Plans For Unification

Be wary, Dmitriy Sukhotsky, because Adonis Stevenson is in good spirits, is grinning, and doesn’t have that typical nasty gameface we come to expect, at times, from fighters counting down to fight night.

Wait, what?

Isn’t a nasty gameface a good thing, indicative of the imminent peril a fighter is going to force a foe to endure? Not always, says Stevenson’s promoter, Yvon Michel, who checked in with TSS on Wednesday at noon. While Adonis was helping feed the needy and down on their luck and homeless at a Quebec shelter which doles out 500 meals a day, God bless ’em, Michel told me that a relaxed Adonis is a dangerous Adonis.

We will see the result Friday night, on Showtime, he told me.

“I haven’t see him so happy and smiling since his fight against Chad Dawson (in 2013),” Michel said. “He’s really comfortable, nothing is bothering him, and training camp went so well. He’s a happy camper, and he’s happy to be getting in the ring for his second fight in 2014.”

As for the worthiness of the snarly gameface, Michel explained that Adonis is at his best “when he’s under control.” In his last fight, he said, issues hung over his head, such as the pending litigation, now voided, as Main Events lodged a suit vs. Adonis, and Michel. This stemmed from a proposed Stevenson vs. Sergey Kovalev bout which got into heavy planning stages and was then blown up. Michel said he and Adonis are keen to re-visit that plan, and are happy that the suit against them is no more. “It bothered him, Michel said. “Now, nothing bothers him. We are confident he will beat Sukhostsky. And then we will go in the direction of a light heavyweight unification. Adonis wants to be the unified champion. We believe Kovalev will beat Jean Pascal in March, and Adonis will fight Kovalev sometime next fall.”

The best paid plans call for Adonis to fight Friday, then again on April 4th. Then, fingers crossed, a unification bout in the fall. “He plans to fight three times next year,” Michel said.

The promoter said Sukhostsky is no laydown artist and this will be a test Friday. He alerted me to a YouTube video which shows the Russian, who he presumes will be hungry to score an upset and change his life, taking it to German light heavy champ Juergen Braehmer. It was round ten, and if it weren’t in Germany, Michel thinks the bout would have been stopped and Suk would be wearing a belt.

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He believes on message Adonis will be there Friday, working like he did against Tavoris Cloud (Sept. 2013), listening to the nephew of Emanuel Steward, trainer Sugar Hill, and being the smart but snarly KO craver. Suk comes forward, and Adonis should be able to punish him with wicked counters. Suk is, Michel said, a solid guy, has good fundamentals, keeps his hands high, comes forward, and he thinks Adonis is injury free, no hand or shoulder woes, so full force and velocity should be on display from the Haitian-born hitter. Plus, there’s some good vibes in the air after Saturday saw Andy Lee, another Steward protege, get ‘er done and win a middleweight crown. Adonis, Michel said, felt like that was a win for the Kronk family, and seeks to continue the momentum Friday.

We should see Adonis showing what Michel most likes about him, the desire to carry out the imperative Steward hammered: KOs, emeffer!

“That’s why he’s special…you talk to a fighter, and he says, ‘Oh, I will go for the KO if it’s there.’ Not Adonis. It is his mentality to go for the KO. He doesn’t pace himself, he goes for it every round. This is why he’s never in a boring fight!”

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