Adonis Stevenson (29-1-1, 24 KOs) says he’s going to knockout mandatory challenger Oleksandr Gvozdyk (15-0, 12 KOs) on December 1 in their fight at the Centre Videotron, in Quebec City, in Quebec, Canada.
Stevenson, 41, is coming off of a grueling 12 round draw against Badou Jack last May in Toronto, Canada. Stevenson can’t afford to take the kind of punishment that he took against Jack. The good news is Gvozdyk seems a little chinny, and he’s never been involved in a fight in which he’s had to take a lot of heavy shots. Gvozdyk was badly hurt by one of the few shots his over-matched opponent Mehdi Amar
“Gvozdyk is a hungry guy, I’m sure he’ll give it all in the ring,”Stevenson said to rds.ca. “So I’ll have to work hard to be 100% ready, I want to show people that I’m the greatest light heavyweight and I’ll win by KO.”
Gvozdyk, 31, is ten years younger than Stevenson, and he’s not been around long enough to get many miles on him after turning pro in 2014. Gvozdyk’s best wins have come against Amar, Yunieski Gonzalez, Tommy Karpency, Isaac Chilemba and Nadjib Mohammedi. The best fighter of that bunch is Chilemba, and he had wrist injury. Gvozdyk hasn’t fought the dangerous guys at 175 like Artur Beterbiev, Stevenson, Badou Jack, Dmitry Bivol, Joe Smith Jr., Marcus Browne, Eleider Alvarez, Anthony Yarde and Sullivan Barrera.
There’s a lot of guys that Gvozdyk hasn’t fought for him to be properly tested before facing a tough champion like Stevenson. This fight is probably taking place too early for Gvozdyk in terms of his experience. He should have fought some of the guys from the above list before he took on a fight against Stevenson, but obviously his promoters at Top Rank didn’t want to take the risk of matching him against those fighters before getting him a title shot. Gvozdyk is a good fighter, but he’ not shown the type of talent that suggests that he’ll beat someone like Stevenson unless he got old overnight. Stevenson still got the better of Jack, but he wasn’t given a victory.
“Without a doubt, Gvozdyk will be the best opponent that Adonis has faced in his title defenses,” said Stevenson’s promoter, Yvon Michel said to rds.ca. “He is working with the renowned coach Teddy Atlas, and Gvozdyk will arrive with great confidence and motivation, trying to become the new world champion.”
I think a lot of boxing fans would disagree with Michel about Gvozdyk being the best fighter that Stevenson will have faced. Stevenson beat Tony Bellew, who is a very good fighter. Badou Jack is also a fighter that would give Gvozdyk a lot of problems with his pressure, power and his great chin. Gvozdyk’s questionable punch resistance would likely be exploited almost immediately by Jack, and he might end up knocking him out. Jack could prove to be too rugged for Gvozdyk.