Adonis Stevenson: Al Haymon Can Make ANY Fight Happen / I’ll Knock Kovalev Out

By Olly Campbell - 09/11/2015 - Comments

Tonight at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, WBC light-heavyweight champion, Adonis Stevenson, takes on America’s Tommy Karpency in a defence many have slammed as yet more one-sided matchmaking from Premier Boxing Champion’s boss and elusive fight ‘advisor,’ Al Haymon.

Since launching the PBC brand back in March, fans have been critical of the seemingly ever-present format’s tendency to lean on the side of ‘quantity,’ rather than ‘quality,’ with only a few noted exceptions.

One of the fighters “suffering” as a result is the Haitian-Canadian ‘Superman,’ who fans remain desperate to see in a unification fight with big-hitting Russian, Sergey Kovalev – the owner of the other 3 major belts at 175 lb.

While many fans see Stevenson’s signing with Haymon and thus broadcaster Showtime, as a move to dodge the Russian – who fights exclusively on HBO and from where Haymon fighters are ostensibly ‘banned,’ Adonis fails to see it that way, and claims he still harbours hopes of the fight happening, such is the power of Haymon in today’s marketplace.

“Hey look, Al Haymon can make any fight happen. Look at Mayweather-Pacquiao, he made it happen. Why can’t he make it happen [between] Kovalev and me? Al Haymon can make any fight happen,” Stevenson said in an interview with ESPN.com.

While it is true Kathy Duva, who represents Kovalev, pulled out of a purse bid fearing they would lose and be unable to make the fight on a network OTHER than HBO, the fight – while huge among boxing fans – is nowhere near viable enough to entice the rival networks to work together again in terms of wider public appeal, and seems a distant possibility, despite Adonis’ boasts.

“Al is a good manager, he’s very talented and I’m very happy to be with him and the PBC. I’m very happy, Stevenson added, still attempting to keep the hopes of a Kovalev fight alive.

“I just want to unify the titles so where Al Haymon puts me, I’ll sign in. That’s what I want and so my people around me can give me any fighter and I’ll be ready.

“He (Kovalev) can talk and you can hear him talking, but very soon he has to go in the ring with me and I will knock him out,” he said.

Twitter @Undilutedpoison