Stevenson vs Jack Odds – Saturday night sees long-time WBC world light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson defend his belt against the challenge of Badou Jack.
Stevenson (29-1) won his WBC world title back in June of 2013 when he knocked out Chad Dawson in the opening round of their HBO televised bout. Since then the hard-hitting, Haitian born Stevenson has made eight succesful title defenses, winning six of the eight by stoppage.
The knock on Stevenson is well documented. He has not fought outside of Canada since way back in 2011 and that gives him the look of privilege. Every fighter he has faced in defense of his WBC world title has had to come to Stevenson’s backyard to fight him. Though he has fought and defeated some tough fighters he never gave peple the match they wanted to see against Sergey Kovalev. It was not for a lack of Kovalev calling him out either. After Kovalev stumbled against Andre Ward, Stevenson did not appear to want any part of Ward either.
Stevenson vs Jack Odds
In Jack, Stevenson is facing a true challenge. The odds have a pick ’em fight as we head into fight day.
Jack (22-1-2) won the WBA version of the light heavyweight title in his last outing when he defeated Britain’s Nathan Cleverly. Prior to that, Jack was operating in the super middleweight division where he went 3-0-1 in fights for the WBC’s world title at 168 pounds. He moved up in weight after he battled Brit James DeGale to a draw on Showtime.
Jack is the most successful fighter under Floyd Mayweather Jr’s “The Money Team” banner. The lone loss of his career came via knock out in roughly one minute to unsung Derek Edwards. Though it took Jack a while to gain respect in the boxing world, that loss was a wake up call to him and he has been trending upward ever since. Here, he gets Stevenson at 40 years old coming off a layoff just days short of a year.
There is still a slight feeling that Stevenson is hedging his bets again however. Both men are solid technical boxers and the judges will likely lean towards Stevenson. Jack’s “TMT” pedigree may help with that but the judges were not kind to him in the DeGale fight. With Jack only recently moving up to the weight class from super middle, Stevenson will be the bigger man come fight time. Though 40, Stevenson still has punching power and an unorthodox delivery, so he will be looking to test Jack’s chin once again.
Also of interest from North of the Border is the heavyweight tussle between Oscar Rivas and Herve Hubeaux. Rivas (23-0) is looking to continue moving up the ladder in the weight class. He is facing the Belgian Hubeaux (29-2), who is getting his first taste of fighting outside of Europe.
Check your local listings for start times on Showtime Boxing. The cable network is featuring a double header on Saturday that sees them at a second location in Maryland with a juicy featherweight fight between WBC world titlist Gary Russell Jr (28-1) as he faces the challenge of undefeated Joseph “Jojo” Diaz (26-0).
Sat 5/19 – Air Canada Centre – Toronto, Canada – Showtime Boxing
Light Heavyweight 12 rounds –
Badou Jack -110 o9½ -130
Adonis Stevenson -110 u9½ +110
Heavyweight 10 rounds –
Herve Hubeaux +550 o8½ -230
Oscar Rivas -800 u8½ +190
Stevenson vs Jack Odds / Check out more boxing news and features at The Sweet Science.
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