Adonis Stevenson Vows To Drill Fonfara, Wants Ward or Kovalev

By Luke Furman

According to WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson, he was unable to stop Andrzej Fonfara in their 2014 encounter due to an injury that occurred in the first round. On June 3, Stevenson has promised to pick up where he left off.

"I'm aiming for the knockout as I do in all my fights, but I'm training to do the distance as well," said Stevenson (28-1-1, 23 KOs) to the Montreal Journal. If it doesn't end this way, then it will be twelve rounds of punishment. For Fonfara, I expect him to be well prepared. I know he has a new coach (Virgil Hunter) and is confident in his ability. "

On the other hand, Fonfara (29-4, 17 KOs) was not overly spectacular in his last two outings. First, he lost by knockout in the first round against Joe Smith before having his fair share of trouble in stopping a faded Chad Dawson.

Stevenson is not getting fixated on those fights. He expects the most dangerous version of Fonfara.

"We never analyze a boxer by his last fight," Stevenson said. "That would be a serious mistake. He is aware that this is his last chance to become world champion. I know very well what kind of psychological state he might be in, because I have already been in this position. He's going to give it his all."

Should everything go through as planned, Stevenson wants the winner of the June 17th rematch between IBF, WBA, WBO champion Andre Ward and challenger Sergey Kovalev.

"Unifying is more important to me than beating title defense records," Stevenson said. "It is major and it is this direction that we're heading in. As for the Kovalev-Ward match, it's 50-50 in my opinion and I have no preference over who comes out as the winner. I just want the four belts. I'm ready for anyone, anywhere, anytime. I do not have any power in the discussions and it's happening at a level above me. I just box and they gave me the check."

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org