Jeff Sorby

Is Beterbiev ready for Adonis Stevenson?

Is Beterbiev ready for Adonis Stevenson?

Former WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal, who appears to be tired of seeing WBC 175 title holder Adonis Stevenson face weak opposition, suggested recently that Stevenson should face contender Artur Beterbiev (7-0, 7 KOs) in his next optional defense so that he can rebuild his image with the boxing public.

Stevenson won over a lot of boxing fans with his 1st round knockout win over Chad Dawson last year in June of 2013. Since then, however, Stevenson has backed off from tough opposition and beaten Tavoris Cloud, Tony Bellew, Andrzej Fonfara and Dmitry Sukhotsky. Pascal wants to see Stevenson rebuild his name because he wants his fight against him in 2015 to be a big event. It’s not likely to be a big even with the kind of opposition that Stevenson has been facing.

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Stevenson stops Sukhotsky; Dirrell beats Edwards

Stevenson stops Sukhotsky; Dirrell beats Edwards

In an embarrassingly one-sided fight, WBC 175 pound champion Adonis Stevenson (25-1, 21 KOs) annihilated #7 WBC Dmitry Sukhotsky (22-3, 16 KOs) by a 5th round knockout tonight at the Colisee de Quebec, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. If the idea was to pick out an opponent that was no threat to him, Stevenson did a good job with Sukhotsky because this guy did very little in the fight on offense in this one-sided affair.

Stevenson hurt Sukhotsky with a straight left to the head that put him down on the canvas. Stevenson would then knock Sukhotsky down twice more in the round with left hands before the fight was halted at 2:42 of the round.

“He [Sergey Kovalev] has com come to me. I’m the Ring champion, so he has to come to me,” Stevenson said.

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Khan wants Mayweather and Pacquiao in 2015

Khan wants Mayweather and Pacquiao in 2015

Amir Khan isn’t satisfied with possibly getting a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2015. If that fight happens, Khan says he then hopes to fight Manny Pacquiao at the end of the year. If Khan gets his wish, he’ll have faced the two biggest stars in the sport of boxing in one year.

Khan is one of the candidates for Mayweather’s next fight in early 2015.

Mayweather recently said that he’s not interested in facing Khan, because the fight he wants is against Pacquiao on May 2nd. However, Mayweather may have no other choice but to fight Khan if he can’t get a fight against Pacquiao in the first part of the year.

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Thurman: Amir Khan is overrated

Thurman: Amir Khan is overrated

(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) Interim WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman says he sees #1 WBC, #2 WBA Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) as an overrated fighter. Thurman feels that Khan hasn’t beaten anyone at welterweight yet, and that he’s now fighting Devon Alexander for a possible chance to get a fight against boxing’s biggest star Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Thurman feels that Khan should at least be fighting actual welterweights without catch-weights. Thurman has made no secret to the fact that he’d be more than willing to share the ring with Khan if he would be willing to take the fight.

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Cotto-Canelo still not agreed to

Cotto-Canelo still not agreed to

On Tuesday, Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya announced that his fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) had agreed to terms for a title shot against WBC 160lb champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) on May 2nd in 2014 on Cinco de Mayo.

A lot of boxing fans assumed that the fight negotiations were nearing the end and that fight would soon be signed. However, it’s still got a ways to go before the fight is a done deal for May 2nd, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Canelo agreed to terms, but the A-aide, Cotto, still has to agree to the contract term and it could take a while before he agrees to the contract language.

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Erislandy Lara focused on Ishe Smith fight

Erislandy Lara focused on Ishe Smith fight

WBA World junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-2-2, 12 KOs) isn’t coming into his fight this Friday night against 36-year-old former IBF junior middleweight champion Ishe Smith (26-6, 12 KOs) with mental baggage from his last fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez from last July.

Lara lost the fight to Canelo by a 12 round split decision in a bout that really could have gone the other way if Lara had done a little more offensively. Lara feels that he did enough to win the fight, and that’s why he’s coming into this Saturday’s title defense against Smith without feeling regretful about the Canelo match-up. Lara is totally focused on doing his job against Smith, and holding onto his WBA title.

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Klitschko destroys Pulev in 5th round KO

Klitschko destroys Pulev in 5th round KO

Bulgarian challenger Kubrat Pulev (20-1, 11 KOs) proved to be too weak in the chin tonight in getting stopped in the 5th round by IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3, 53 KOs) at the O2 Arena in Hamburg, Germany.

Pulev was knocked down four times in the fight from left hooks. He was down twice in the 1st, once in the 3rd and a final time in the 5th. Referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight at 2:11 of the 5th after Wladimir put Pulev down with a left hook to the head that put Pulev down on his back. The shot caused a huge swelling under Pulev’s right eye.

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Fonfara suffered hand injury in win over Ngumbu

Fonfara suffered hand injury in win over Ngumbu

If you were wondering why #6 WBC light heavyweight contender Andrzej Fonfara (26-3, 15 KOs) looked so poor last night in defeating Doudou Ngumbu (33-6, 12 KOs), you have to realize that Fonfara suffered an injury to his right hand in the 4th round of the fight, according to Fightnews.com. From that point on, Fonfara was pretty much stuck using his left hand to do most of his power punching.

Fonfara won the fight by a 10 round unanimous decision by the scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 97-93. Of course, the injury Fonfara sustained doesn’t explain why he looked so bad in the first three rounds of the fight.

That’s something that you have to wonder about because Ngumbu was able to hit Fonfara nearly at will with his power shots, and it was kind of disappointing to see something like that happening when Fonfara had previously been hyped by a lot of boxing fans.

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Kovalev’s trainer wants him to hit Hopkins everywhere

Kovalev’s trainer wants him to hit Hopkins everywhere

John David Jackson, the trainer for WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs), believes the best strategy for Kovalev to beat the 49-year-old IBF/WBA 175lb champion Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs) in their fight on November 8th is for him to hit Hopkins everywhere – to his body, shoulders, arms and head. Jackson feels that this is the best way for Kovalev to wear the nearly 50-year-old Hopkins out to either score a knockout or win by a decision.

“I want him to hit Hopkins everywhere, his shoulder, his arms, body shots. Sergey is more athletic. He has power in both hands. He’s not robotic like Hopkins is. Sergey cuts the ring off. Bernard can’t match him power for power,” said Jackson via Fightnews.com.

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