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Tonight at Montreal’s Bell Centre, the world’s largest hockey arena, WBC light heavyweight champ Adonis Stevenson looks to make the third defense of his title when he meets challenger Andrzej Fonfara over 12 scheduled rounds.
How did Fonfara, 25-2 (15), achieve this title shot, and the number three slot in the WBC rankings? Good question. The 26 year old Poland born Chicago resident has gone undefeated over his last 17 contests but those victories have come against a lineup of the usual record-building suspects.
The easiest answer to that question is that the title opportunity is the result of a weak 175 pound division, as a look at the WBC light heavyweight ratings draws up a mixed bag of unknowns, second tier fighters and faded former champs.
Regardless of how he got to this point, Fonfara is almost certainly in for a rude awakening at the hands of southpaw puncher Stevenson, 23-1 (20), who shot to prominence after jumping up a division to destroy WBC champ Chad Dawson a year ago and went on to prove that was no fluke by disposing of Tavoris Cloud and Tony Bellew.
Stevenson, formerly under the guidance of the late Emmanuel Steward, is probably far too fast and punches much too hard for Fonfara to step up against.
The Pole is definitely a good boxer with good power but is facing the top man in the division without having faced a solid contender at 175 pounds and it will likely only be the sturdiness of Fonfara’s chin which determines how long he lasts in the ring tonight.
However, Fonfara does have a glimmer of hope as Stevenson’s own resume was very unimpressive as a super middleweight and he was stopped by seasoned veteran Darnell Boone in 2010, although “Superman” gained revenge three years later.
Can Fonfara avoid getting hit flush while consistently putting his power shots on target against the champion? That is what will have to occur for the challenger to walk out of Bell Centre as WBC champion, particularly as the venue is essentially the Haiti born Laval based Stevenson’s home ground.
