Saturday’s Stevenson-Gvozdyk Affair is a Solid ‘Co-Feature’

If all goes according to plan, Saturday’s showdown between undefeated heavyweights Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury at the Staples Center will be buttressed by 12 preliminary bouts. But the co-feature, for all practical purposes, will be staged 3,000 miles away in Quebec City, Canada, and those tuning in on Showtime will have the good fortune to take in both. The Stevenson-Gvozdyk fight will bleed into the Wilder-Fury fight, the latter of which is a pay-per-view event.

Lineal heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (29-1-1, 24 KOs) is boxing’s longest reigning active champion. He will be making the 10^th defense of the WBC title he won with a first round knockout of Chad Dawson. Born in Haiti but a resident of Montreal since the age of five, Stevenson hasn’t lost since 2010 and will be fighting on his home turf. And yet the oddsmakers installed the California-based Ukrainian, Oleksandr Gvozdyk (15-0, 12 KOs), the favorite, odds of 3/2 (minus-150) currently available.

Stevenson’s age factored heavily into the price. He is 41 years old, 10 years older than the challenger. Moreover, there were moments in his last fight, against Badou Jack in Toronto, when it appeared that he was slipping.

That fight, declared a draw, had multiple momentum swings with Stevenson tilting the fight back in his favor in round 10 by dint of a wicked body punch only to see Jack come on strong in the final stanza.

One could argue, however, that Stevenson is a young 41. Owing in part to a stint in prison (on multiple charges including assault and living off the earnings of prostitutes), Stevenson didn’t begin his pro career until the age of 29. As a pro, he’s answered the bell for only 143 rounds. (By way of comparison, Manny Pacquiao, who is 15 months younger, has answered the bell for 462 rounds.) Moreover, Stevenson’s left hook, at least in theory, remains one of the best in the business.

Oleksandr Gvozdyk was a member of the celebrated 2012 Ukrainian Olympic boxing team that included gold medalists Vasiliy Lomachenko and Oleksandr Usyk. He advanced to the semifinals of the London games where he lost a narrow decision to a fighter from Kazakhstan. When in training, the “Nail,” an apt nickname, submits to the unorthodox regimen of Lomachenko’s father, Anatoly. In his last outing, he won a rather ho-hum decision over French-Algerian veteran Mehdi Amar, but before that he won eight straight inside the distance.

The light heavyweight division isn’t particularly deep, but it’s very strong at the top. On a normal Saturday, this would be the spotlight fight but it has received scant notice, pushed to the fringe by the long shadow of Wilder-Fury, a match with far more colorful personalities. However, whatever the outcome of Wilder-Fury, we suspect that fight will be messy; i.e. inartistic. A man who appreciates the science of boxing will likely derive more satisfaction from this contest in Canada.

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