By Ryan Songalia
Photo © Ed Mulholland/FightWireImages.com

Curtis "Showtime" Stevens was on the cusp of breakout success, having redeemed his career following an upset loss to Marcos Primera. However, in his HBO debut, Stevens' fire was snuffed by the quick-footed Olympian Andre Dirrell over 10 uneventful rounds. As he stood in the Mohegan Sun ring, the once once promising knockout artist seemed lost for words on how to explain what exactly went wrong.

Preparing to rebound, the 22-year old left hook artist Stevens, now 17-2 (12 KO), will move forward without the services of long-time promoter Lou Dibella. BoxingScene caught up with the Chin Checker for a one on one conversation.

BoxingScene.com: Let's start from the top. What happened in the fight with Dirrell?

Curtis Stevens: "I thought Dirrell was gonna come to box, but he really just ran. No excuses, I should've brought it to him. In the end, he was just on his pedals."

BoxingScene.com: Clue us in on what happened with Dibella Entertainment. Why are you no longer promoted by Lou Dibella?

Stevens: "I got out of my contract with Lou Dibella. Everything's still good, we're still cool but I felt it was time for me to move on. He's a cool dude. He did a great job of promoting me."

BoxingScene.com: So what's on the agenda now?

Stevens: "I'm going back to old Curtis "Showtime" Stevens. Not getting in there and playing with them and being relaxed and going back to how I was when I first came in the game. As you can see, I stopped wearing bandanas. My cousin told me, what you did when you started winning, always keep it. Never change it. I'm going back to being the old Curtis Stevens and killing people like I used to."

BoxingScene.com: When are we going to see you in the ring again?

Stevens: "October 6 at [Madison Square] Garden on a Don King card."

BoxingScene.com: Do you have an opponent yet?

Stevens: "No opponent yet."

BoxingScene.com: Is Don King where your future rests?

Stevens: "Is there a future? There could be a future with Warrior's, Don King, Golden Boy Promotions, anyone."

BoxingScene.com: How are things with Jaidon Codrington going?

Stevens: "He's doing great now. Omar Sheika couldn't make the weight. He's in LA on The Contender show. He's going to take that as you're going to see in the next couple of months. He's going to be back on track to where he first started."

BoxingScene.com: I understand that you were invited to do the show as well. Why aren't you in LA as well?

Stevens: "I didn't go. I didn't want to do it."

BoxingScene.com: Why is that?

Stevens: "Jaidon had already made the decision he was going to do it. When they came to me, we all sat at the table and realized if we both go into it, we're eventually going to have to fight. I didn't want that to happen."

BoxingScene.com: Speak your mind, here's your platform.

Stevens: "Curtis Stevens will be back in action. Whoever wants to fight, let's fight. Don't run. I mean literally don't run like Andre Dirrell. Come to fight."

Any questions or comments? Send them to my email at mc_rson@yahoo.com