By Ben Jacobs
On Friday night in Quebec, promoter Yvon Michel puts on another stacked card with a series of interesting fights which could tell us more about what is coming for 2015. The show is headlined by WBC champion Adonis Stevenson against Russia’s Dmitry Sukhotsky while the exciting Artur Beterbiev is a standout name on the undercard. BoxingScene spoke to Michel about the event, plans for next year and a brief look back on 2014 for some of his fighters.
BoxingScene: Could you talk about the explosion of Artur Beterbiev onto the scene this year and also his fight on Friday night?
Yvon Michel: It’s going to be interesting because he’s fighting a young American who is undefeated and who trains with Abel Sánchez, the trainer of Gennady Golovkin. They did their training camp in Big Bear so he is very prepared. His opponent, Jeff Page, knows what Artur is about. Maybe Tavoris Cloud got taken by surprise because he didn’t know who Artur was, but Jeff Page knows about him. Nevertheless, Artur is relentless. His training and his way of fighting shows he has such a great potential, not only to be a world champion but to be a huge boxing star. Page will give everything he’s got but the public around the world will see that Artur is for real. In the light heavyweight division you have two champions, Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev, but in 2015 these guys will have to look back because Artur is coming. If we had received an offer for Artur to fight Kovalev next month we would have said yes. He is ready now. What separates him from a title fight is that he needs to be better known. It is a question more of business than being ready himself.
BoxingScene: Another light heavyweight that you have is Eleider Álvarez who reminded people how good he is in his last fight. What plans are there for him next year?
Yvon Michel: The reason why he had a couple of performances under par was that he was bothered by an injury to his left arm. His bread and butter punch is his jab and he was unable to use it effectively. He had surgery where they removed 20 different pieces of cartilage in his left elbow, he is in rehab now. Eleider is a top notch light heavyweight champion.
BoxingScene: You recently signed Custio Clayton who makes his debut on Friday. I saw him at the London Olympics and he looked talented. What plans do you have for him?
Yvon Michel: He’s very skilful, very talented. We’re going to be on the fast track with him, he wants to go fast so we will give him the opportunity. If he adapts fast then within a couple of years he should be in contention. He has a great attitude so we are very happy to have signed him and looking forward to develop him.
BoxingScene: Do you have a prediction for the Jean Pascal-Sergey Kovalev fight?
Yvon Michel: Kovalev will be the favourite but he should not underestimate Pascal. Pascal is a difficult boxer to fight, he’s very intelligent, very athletic. If Kovalev shows some weaknesses Pascal should be able to exploit it. Also the fight is in Canada so there will be a huge crowd for Pascal, I like his chances but I know Kovalev will be the odds favourite.
BoxingScene: The WBC have just said the winner must fight Stevenson, what are your thoughts?
Yvon Michel: Great. After Kovalev beat Hopkins, Adonis called me at two in the morning and said he wants to fight Kovalev. I said that I understood but there’s some problems, he said he doesn’t want to know about it. He wants Al and I to work at it for 2015. So we’re very happy about it, Kovalev and Pascal are fighting to face the real champion and it will crown one belt holder, and we believe Adonis is still the man.
BoxingScene: Some people have criticised Dmitry Sukhotsky as an opponent although judging by what he showed against Jürgen Brähmer he could be a tough customer.
Yvon Michel: Look, they criticise when they don’t know the opponent. We know who he is, Adonis knows he has to have a good performance, he’s planning to use the tactics he used when he fought Tavoris Cloud. Sukhotsky is strong, he’s never been down. He’s a little slow but he puts a lot of pressure on. Adonis wants to win by knockout but he won’t rush. He’ll make him miss and hit him with counter punches. I believe Adonis should win by a late knockout. Sukhotsky deserves this shot, the fight against Brähmer should have been stopped in the tenth round so he is going to come here and give it his all.
BoxingScene: Also I understand the winner of Kevin Bizier and Jo Jo Dan could face Kell Brook next?
Yvon Michel: The winner will be his mandatory, so it’s a very important fight. It’s a rematch, they fought to a split decision last year so we will see who learned more from the first one. This has the potential to steal the show. It was very intense last year so we are expecting the same. But because the winner has even more to gain than last time I’m expecting a big war.
