By Ryan Burton

On May 19th WBC and lineal light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (29-1) and former two-division champion Badou Jack (22-1-2) will collide at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. 

The fight was recently announced along with the rest of Showtime's schedule for the first half of 2018. Co-headlining the telecast will be Keith Thurman's defense of his WBA and WBC titles from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY in a split site broadcast.

Leonard Ellerbe, who promotes Jack, is among the many who are looking forward to the bout.

"It's a 50-50 fight on paper. I think it is the best match up out there. The best fighting the best. Badou - there aren't enough accolades to describe what he has done since 2014. He has fought 5 current or former world champions in a row. He is a guy who is always looking to fight the best that is out there. I think fighting Adonis Stevenson will bring out the best in him and I really excited about that," Ellerbe told BoxingScene.com.

The Las Vegas, Nevada based Jack will go into the fight as the underdog but he is no stranger to that role after upsetting Anthony Dirrell to capture his first world title and has also reeled off wins against Lucian Bute and George Groves and fought James DeGale to a disputed draw last year in a fight that many people thought Jack deserved to get the victory.

If he knocks off Stevenson, Ellerbe believes that Jack deserves a spot on the top ten of the pound-for-pound list.

"Most definitely. If you look at the body of work he has put together and we are just starting. This is a tremendous match up so obviously the focus is there but very big things lay ahead for Badou when he wins this fight on May 19th," said Ellerbe.

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