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One of the world’s top heavyweights sees action tonight as Adonis Stevenson puts his WBC belt on the line against Dmitry Sukhotsky at Colisee Quebec in Quebec City, Canada.
Sukhotsky, 22-2 (16), comes into tonight’s contest riding a four bout win streak and has a world title challenge under his belt already, a points loss to Juergen Brahmer in 2009.
The 33 year old Russian has never been stopped and is heavy-handed but that’s about where his positive attributes stop as he prepares to challenge for the WBC championship.
37 year old southpaw Stevenson, 24-1 (20), is greatly feared in the division for his concussive punching power and has won three of his four world title contests inside the distance.
However, in his most recent outing, Stevenson ran into contender Andrzej Fonfara, who proved able to take the champion’s punches and pressed the aging slugger hard in the later rounds before dropping a points decision.
It’s a safe bet that Team Sukhotsky will have studied the film of that fight and will look to better Fonfara’s results.
Because most of his victories have ended inside the distance, Stevenson’s stamina is suspect and if Sukhotsky can make the champion expend a lot of energy on the backfoot in the first half of the contest, he could have an advantage over a tired Stevenson in the later rounds.
But that can only occur if the challenger can either avoid getting caught flush or prove able to stand up to Stevenson’s artillery.
It should be a very interesting bout, for as long as it lasts, but with a lucrative potential unification clash against the winner of the WBA/IBFWBO showdown between champion Sergey Kovalev vs. challenger Jean Pascal on the horizon, expect Stevenson to be extra-motivated this evening.
