Adonis Stevenson vs. Thomas Williams Jr.

Adonis Stevenson vs. Thomas Williams Jr. is a puncher's battle

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Light heavyweight world champion Adonis Stevenson will turn 39 on Sept. 22 and he has not boxed in 10 months. That is not typically a good combination for a prize fighter.

But Stevenson said he has no worries about rust in his ring return, which will come when he makes his seventh title defense against fellow explosive puncher Thomas Williams Jr. in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card on Friday (Spike, 9 p.m. ET) at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City.

"Last year, I think I did three or four fights. Now this year I'm going to fight two times, so my layoff will be good for me," Stevenson said during a recent teleconference with reporters to talk about the fight. "It's not a problem. I was in the gym every day. The layoff is not a problem for me because I'm always training."

Perhaps the layoff clouded Stevenson's memory because he actually only had two fights in 2015 as well as two in 2014. He did fight four times in 2013. That was the year he took the title off Chad Dawson by devastating first-round knockout in just 76 seconds.

Still, Stevenson, a Haiti native fighting out of his adopted hometown of Montreal, again reiterated his supposed busy 2015.

"I need to recover because in 2015 I fought like three or four times," he said. "Everything is good now. I'm ready to fight. I don't have injuries, so I'm ready now. Sometimes it's good to recover, to take a break and come back stronger."

Even when Stevenson (27-1, 22 KOs) has fought he has not exactly been tested as he has been matched relatively softly during most of his title reign. His last three defenses have come against overmatched Dmitry Sukhotsky (fifth-round knockout) in 2014, faded former super middleweight titlist Sakio Bika (clear-cut unanimous decision) 15 months ago and journeyman Tommy Karpency (third-round knockout) in an epic mismatch in September.

Williams (20-1, 14 KOs), a southpaw like Stevenson, brings something to the table those others did not -- tremendous punching power, which he used to blast out contender Edwin Rodriguez in the second round on April 30 in what was an unofficial eliminator to earn the shot at Stevenson.

While Williams and Stevenson both have superb power, they are also viewed by many as having a shaky chin, which could make for a short, but fireworks-filled fight.

"I know he's hungry, but I'm the champ and I'm hungry too," Stevenson said. "I know he'll be ready, so I'll be ready for this fight. (Friday) will be awesome and it will also be my daughter's birthday. Williams is a puncher and a good opponent."

Stevenson and Williams were each knocked out in their only defeat. Stevenson was stopped on his feet in the second round by journeyman Darnell Boone in 2010 and Williams got knocked out by former world titleholder Gabriel Campillo in the fifth round in August 2014. Williams has also been visibly hurt multiple times, including against Rodriguez.

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Williams, 28, of Fort Washington, Maryland, said he knows what he is getting into against Stevenson.

"Adonis is the WBC champion and a strong puncher," Williams said. "He beat everybody he had in front of him, but he has a real test (on Friday). Each time I fight, there are fireworks."

Williams dismissed his fifth-round knockout loss to Campillo.

"If you watch this bout (against Campillo), I was winning before the stoppage," Williams said. "And I improved a lot since. Look, this is a fight. It does not matter if Adonis has a bigger reach than me. Mike Tyson had less reach than most of his opponents."

Williams also said he has not fear of fighting on Stevenson's turf. In fact, he rather likes Canada.

"It won't be a distraction," Williams said. "When you're focused, you're focused. It won't be a problem. Canada is nice. When I came to Canada for the press conference, I received a good welcome. People were friendly. I thought a lot of people in Canada like Adonis Stevenson because he's from there, but a lot of people were telling me knock this guy out. I don't even know why they were telling me this."

Should Stevenson retain the title he said once again that he wants to fight the winner of the fight between unified titleholder Sergey Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) and former super middleweight champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs), who are due to meet on Nov. 19 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas -- as long as Ward comes through a tune-up fight against Alexander Brand (25-1, 19 KOs) on Aug. 6.

"First of all, we will see if they will fight and if it's true or not. If the fight is going to happen -- we don't know that," Stevenson said. "It's (scheduled) for November but you don't know if the fight is going to happen because Andre Ward has a fight on Aug. 6, so we'll see after that. I will wait to see if it happens for real to predict a winner.

"Of course I need the winner of that fight. I'm the lineal champion. I need all the titles. This is my goal, but I have to focus on Thomas Williams first."

Of course, Stevenson has routinely said he wants to unify titles against Kovalev but his actions have spoken louder than his words. He is the one who walked away from a deal for the fight that was agreed to in 2014, a move that resulted in an avalanche of criticism, and done his best to avoid the fight while facing subpar opposition.

In the 10-round co-feature, light heavyweight Eleider "Storm" Alvarez (19-0, 10 KOs), 32, the Colombia-born, Montreal-based mandatory challenger for the winner of the main event, will face New Zealand's Robert Berridge (27-4-1, 21 KOs), a 31-year-old southpaw who took the fight on short notice when former world champion Chad Dawson dropped out because he suffered a shoulder injury while training last week.

The fight is contracted at a catch weight of 180 pounds. If Alvarez wins, his world title shot should come before the end of the year and would be a major event if he faces Stevenson in Montreal.

Adonis Stevenson vs. Thomas Williams Jr. is a puncher's battle

For some reason I thought Stevenson was fighting the guy who knocked out Fonfara last time out, this is probably more dangerous but a similar type of fight. Stevenson should dominate but could get caught or sparked himself, might be fun.

Don't know what fight Thomas was watching but Campillo tore him up badly. He's been in bad trouble in a few fights and no doubt 'piza-chit'..blame Kovalez..aka Stevenson is counting on a one shot well placed spark job. His mandatory is on undercard so hopefully that is next. If he doesn't catch a brick himself of course. Could be a very short fire fight!

Ooo yeah forgot about the Campillo fight haha, another lefty to boot.

I don't think stevenson is going to go in and wing like Rodriguez, leaving himself wide and blown out down the middle. His trainers just going to have him jab Williams so he never gets his feet set and then line him up for the left hand. Its just a matter of how long Williams takes to walk into it or slow down to sitting duck level.

Williams was beat and winded at the time of the stoppage against campillo. (possibly broken nose so i wont begrudge him too much on the stamina issue but he hardly looked like the picture of determination at that point)

Adonis Stevenson to KO Thomas Williams Jr as daughter's birthday present

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Adonis Stevenson says he will knockout Thomas Williams Jr as a birthday present for his daughter.

The WBC light-heavyweight champion puts his title on the line in his home town of Quebec City, Canada, on Friday night.

Stevenson (27-1-KO22) has kept away from world light-heavyweight No 1 Sergey Kovalev, and has cut short his role in his daughter's birthday celebrations as he defends his WBC strap for the seventh time.

Adonis Stevenson to KO Thomas Williams Jr as daughter's birthday present | Boxing News | Sky Sports

What times the fight on in the uk?

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Originally Posted by Tam Seddon

What times the fight on in the uk?

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It's starting now. Late sub Robert Berridge out of New Zealand fighting number 1 ranked Eleider Alvarez Lt hvy.

Man you know you're "TBA" when you flew it 2 days ago and already have your next two fights lined up ;D.

Berridge a rough customer into the 5th. Basic but rugged willing and leads with the head inside like a ram. Classes seem to be separating though and falling into ropes when Alvarez gets the jab going

Surprised this is going into a 10th round. Alvarez takes a long look at the clock end of 9th and takes massive breath. He definitely looks like a guy who agreed to last minute 180 CW sub to make the event and is just going through the motions to get to Stevenson fight. Turning it up in 10th a bit, Berridge is a tough nut who makes it the distance with right eye a bloody mess.

Odd programming by PBC and network as they choose to air 8 rounder that is taped and goes distance while card ends in 30 minutes..with main event 12 rounder yet to start :cwm13: Guess they're going all in on it not going more than a few rounds??? or this is all taped. Main kicking off now

Immanuwel Aleem and Demond Nicholson just ended in a draw. Aleem was robbed of a KD and hurt him twice.

Williams jr glass is a breaking. Dropped ugly in 1st and hurt again.

;D Williams jr has some Charles Brewer in him. Just not the skill. Taps his chin and goads Stevenson on then lands a half dozen very solid punches, rocks Super chicken end of 2nd!

This is a fun fight. Williams has heart if not a chin. Both throwing bombs.