IS STEVENSON A PAPER LION OR A TRUE TIGER?
Adonis Stevenson is too old and too inactive to be taken completely seriously as a boxing great anymore but he has revealed one deep secret to his success. “I don’t do sex,” he said.
He said it with a straight face. He didn’t go into details of when or for how long. A few steps away, his girlfriend, turning all shades of red, confirmed it to be true.
Just another story now for the Stevenson file of so many stories. How he came late to boxing after spending time in prison. How he emerged as one of the giant punchers in the game, against all odds. How he rarely fought outside of Quebec, and rarely fought anybody of consequence, protecting his record and his WBC light-heavyweight championship along the way. How he became a household name in Montreal but is anything but household in nine other Canadian provinces.
Stevenson should be known and recognized in Canada the way George Chuvalo is known and the way Lennox Lewis is known, but his promoters and management team has shut the country out, the national networks have chosen to ignore him and the fact his list of opponents is partly laughable hasn’t helped any kind of sell. Assuming they have tried to sell rather than protect.
So there is no sense that Stevenson will enter the ring Saturday night in Toronto in the toughest defence of his light-heavyweight title against Badou Jack as any kind of crowd favourite. This may, in fact, be a split kind of crowd at Air Canada Centre. Stevenson can wear a championship belt over his shoulder and a silly-looking crown on his head, which makes him look more clown than royalty, but with Floyd Mayweather involved as Jack’s promoter, the Toronto crowd may end up pro Jack.
“Canada,” Stevenson said at the main fight press conference at The Rec Room, just down the road from the ACC, “my country. I love Canada.”
What we don’t know — and may not know until Saturday night — does Canada love him back?
Stevenson has been a monstrous puncher with maybe the best left hand in boxing, but here’s where you wonder: He turns 41 in September. He fought once in 2017, a secondround TKO of somebody named Andrzej Forfara. He fought once in 2016, a four-round knockout of somebody named Thomas Williams Jr. He fought once in the second half of 2015, a thirdround stoppage against somebody named Tommy Karpency.
In basically three years, he’s fought three times, less than nine rounds of boxing, against no one resembling the quality of Badou Jack.
So what is Stevenson at 40? Has he slowed down because of age? Has he lost his edge fighting less than quality opposition? Has his career been managed in such a way to avoid the tough fights to maintain his belt while diminishing his reputation?
Mayweather understands what it is to be 40 and fighting. You may be smarter, you may be craftier, but the hands slow down with time, the power is reduced and Father Time, as they say, remains, like Mayweather was, undefeated.
The flip side is that no one in boxing has held their title as long as Stevenson has held his. He ranks, according to the WBC, on a wondrous list of all-time greats in the division that includes Bob Foster, Michael Spinks, Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins. They say that: I won’t.
Not without a signature win. Not without a fight you can’t forget about. In some ways, this may be Stevenson’s most important fight because of Jack’s resumé. A win here, outside of Quebec, against a better opponent, may mean more than all those crushings in Montreal and Quebec City.
Mike Tyson used to say everyone has a game plan until they get punched in the mouth. Stevenson’s view of fighting is somewhat similar. This is a 12-round championship fight. “I just need one punch,” said Stevenson. “Only one. Don’t blink. I’m looking for the knockout. Don’t blink.”
The record shows Stevenson with 29 wins, one loss, 24 knockouts. The last time he went the distance was a rather dreadful fight with Sakio Bika in Quebec City in 2015. Thirteen of his wins have ended in the first or second round. There is some Tyson in his record: Some Tyson in the quality of opponents.
“Out of those 30 wins (actually 29), how many were against good ones?” asked Mayweather. “How many of those were against next level fighters? A couple of guys, maybe. But that’s all.”
Stevenson remains steadfast. “I have 12 rounds to fight him. I only have to touch him once.”