Boxing Opinion: Why Adonis Stevenson Wants no Part of Sergey Kovalev

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It doesn’t matter how good Adonis Stevenson looked against Sakio Bika over the weekend. Just like it doesn’t matter how serious “Superman” sounds today when he talks about a potential fight with Sergey Kovalev. The fact of the matter is this:

Keep Adonis Stevenson far, far away from Sergey Kovalev…

If you care about Stevenson’s health, that is.

A couple of years ago, it appeared that a potential showdown between the two best light heavyweights in boxing was a pick ‘em type of fight. Stevenson had just mowed down formidable opponents Chad Dawson and Tavoris Cloud while Kovalev was flattening Nathan Cleverly and Ismail Sillakh as the two appeared headed toward a Fall 2014 clash. Clearly, Stevenson had the superior resume and was the favorite to win in some circles. And then the fight was called off as Stevenson joined forces with Al Haymon and jumped ship from HBO to Showtime after the former wouldn’t match Haymon’s financial demands on a two-fight deal with Stevenson-Kovalev being the second fight on the table.

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Some took it as Stevenson clearly avoiding Kovalev, while others simply perceived it as the brilliant Haymon masterminding yet another deal to keep his fighters in-house. Either way, the career trajectory of both fighters has shifted mightily in favor of the Russian to the point where that fight is no longer a pick ‘em.

Stevenson’s last trio of fights has been against the likes of Andrzej Fonfara, Dmitry Sukhotsky and Bika. Although he won all three, the Fonfara fight caused a bit of concern as Stevenson was dropped in the ninth round. There were little things that were exposed about Stevenson, such as his adoration for loading up the left hook, which makes him look quite one-dimensional at times. He also hasn’t seemed as sharp as one would expect, regardless of winning all three fights handily.

Meanwhile, Kovalev has turned into an absolute monster that has annihilated everything in his path. After clobbering Ismail Sillakh, Cedric Agnew and Blake Caparello, Kovalev stepped into the ring with the ageless veteran Bernard Hopkins and completely dominated the fight en route to a shutout on all three judges’ scorecards. It was a shock to most how easily Kovalev handled Hopkins and turned a cagey fighter into mincemeat by dominating his foe and dropping the Philly fighter in the opening frame. For an encore, Kovalev faced former champion Jean Pascal and gave us an entertaining fight that culminated in the Russian adding yet another knockout victim to his list with an 8th round stoppage.

It’s evident that the pendulum has swung in favor of the mighty Russian, who was named Ring Magazine fighter of the year in 2014.

Stevenson had an opportunity to shine on CBS when he faced Savio Bika on Premier Boxing Champions. Not that he didn’t look good; he just seemed rather average compared to his Russian counterpart. Bika, who had moved up in weight for the first time, is certainly no pushover. But for a hard-hitting fighter like Stevenson, he needed to put together a performance that wowed boxing fans. He won, but just didn’t do it with the same pizzazz that Kovalev has had.

Stevenson claims that he wants to finally get into the ring with Kovalev in a unification bout -- Kovalev holds the WBO, IBF and WBA (Super) light heavyweight titles while Stevenson possesses the WBC crown -- but he’s had a little nudge from the WBC who has made Kovalev his mandatory challenger.

The WBC has ordered negotiations to begin right away, and if there is no deal in place by April 17, a purse bid will be held.

But will the 37-year-old Stevenson really face Kovalev? Not if you believe Haymon wants to protect his fighters from everyone except each other. Kovalev is promoted by Main Events and a fight of this magnitude is something that the genius PBC architect will likely want under his promotional umbrella.

More importantly, Haymon is a smart man who is keenly aware of the danger that Kovalev brings to him into the ring. Without any promotional ties to the Russian, would the promoter risk putting his champion in there with the possibility that Stevenson gets decimated and his overall stock takes a hit? Haymon would obviously prefer some options on Kovalev as a safety net in the event that Stevenson gets steamrolled by the “Krusher.”

This is definitely a fight that fans want to see as there is really no reason to keep these two away from each other aside from business decisions that casuals could care less about. And looking at the landscape of the light heavyweight division, there are no reasonable options for either fighter (unless you put Stevenson in there with Hopkins, but let’s perish that thought). At 37, Haymon may have received all that Stevenson is capable of and the only thing that’s left is to put him out there in a big fight against Kovalev, close his eyes and hope for the best.

But let’s be real: the best case scenario for Haymon and company is that Stevenson makes it competitive and can force a rematch.



Andreas Hale is a content producer for Jay Z's LifeandTimes.com and Editor-In-Chief Of PremierWuzHere.com, as well as a frequent Sherdog.com columnist. Check out his archive here.