Bika Looks To Upset The Stevenson Odds For The WBC Crown

When the bell rings tonight in the 15,000 seat hockey arena Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City, WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson will face his most experienced opponent to date in the form of Sakio Bika.

Australia’s Bika, 32-6-3 (21), like Stevenson, 25-1 (21), is a former super middleweight who held the WBC title in 2013 before losing it to Anthony Dirrell in August but the 35 year old Cameroon born hard man has faced a long list of accomplished opponents.

Bika’s resume offers names of world champions such as Andre Ward, Joe Calzaghe, Lucian Bute, Markus Beyer and Sam Soliman, while the leading lights on Stevenson’s CV are Chad Dawson and Tavoris Cloud, both of whom were past their best at the time.

The advantage Stevenson has in this category is that he defeated Dawson and Cloud while Bika lost to his luminaries aside from the rematch victory over Soliman.

None of this will mean anything once the fight starts, of course, but Bika will definitely be the most seasoned man Stevenson has faced, and “The Scorpion” will have a major advantage: chin.

The Sydney resident has a granite jaw, while Stevenson was stopped by journeyman Darnell Boone in 2010 and was on the canvas against Andrzej Fonfara a year ago.

Bika isn’t known as a concussive puncher, but then neither were Boone or Fonfara.

Stevenson is the better boxer and can genuinely punch but in order to retain his WBC title, he’ll have to keep the challenger at a distance and avoid a close quarters brawl, something Bika will try to force.

If Bika can cut off the ring and get on the inside, his ugly, anything goes style could wear down Stevenson and leave the Canadian weakened in the later rounds.

In order to get to that point and capitalize on that potential situation, Bika will have to prove that he can take Stevenson’s power.

Whatever outcome happens, it should be a very entertaining contest.

The undercard will feature heavily-hyped light heavyweight novice Artur Beterbiev, 7-0 (7), taking on former WBA champion Gabriel Campillo, 25-6-1 (12), in a scheduled 12 rounder for the number two spot in the IBF rankings.

Beterbiev has never been more than four rounds while Campillo has been the 12 round distance on seven occasions.