Michel Says We’re Still on Track To See Adonis Fight Kovalev-Pascal Winner

Adonis Stevenson burst on the scene in a wicked way, dropping and stopping Chad Dawson in June of 2013, and that marked a turning point for the man in whom Emanuel Steward saw immense promise. Some of that promise has been shown to be the truth, as the Haitian-born hitter won the WBC light heavy title in his next outing, against Tavoris Cloud. But the political scene in the sport has, arguably, retarded his growth, or at least, our best appraisal at his true chops.

He was on track to meet up with Sergey Kovalev last year, but made a business decision which he found to be more to his liking. Signing on with uber advisor Al Haymon meant that Adonis would not find himself on a collision course with Kovalev. Kovalev is a Main Events/HBO guy, Adonis is an Al/Showtime guy.

We got word the other day about Adonis’ next defense, his fourth, after notching wins over Tony Bellew, a B grade Brit, rugged Andrrzej Fonfara and then journeyman-ish Dmitriy Sukhostkiy.

Adonis meets Sakio Bika on April 4, and that certainly represents a step up in difficulty, I think, than his last three foes. Bika comes to rumble, in shape, and Adonis will have to be on message to defend. But…I’m a fan first, and always want the no brainer matchups to get made. Adonis vs the winner of the March 14 tangle between Sergey Kovalev and Jean Pascal is just that, a no brainer…in a perfect world. And we know this world isn’t and that political and financial factions are still preventing some matches we should be enjoying from being made.

I asked Adonis’ promoter, Yvon Michel, if we are still on track to see Adonis meet the Kovalev/Pascal winner.

“Kathy Duva has requested to the WBC to have the winner of that fight be the mandatory contender to Stevenson,” Michel told me. “We love it and will go for it.” Sounds swell. What about the all-powerful Haymon; will he? “Stevenson wants it and Al will support that! It would certainly go to purse bid because I can’t see a negotiated agreement, though.”

Likely so, that. HBO guy, Showtime guy…hard to see how that gets sorted. But I sit in the optimist chair, as much as I can, so I will root for common ground to be found, and for Stevenson, should he handle Bika on April 4, to glove up with the winner of Kovalev-Pascal. Duva sits more so in the realist chair; when I alerted her to Michel’s update to me, she shook her head, and indicated that she didn’t see how competing players could get near enough to being on the same page. Stay tuned, as ever, friends..

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