By Luke Furman
WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson is still interested in facing countryman Jean Pascal - but only if Pascal works his way up the ladder with the official rankings.
Pascal was the mandatory challenger for much of last year, but he two sides were unable to reach a financial agreement. Pascal walked away from his mandatory spot and accepted a fight with WBA/IBF/WBO champion Sergey Kovalev, who won their March bout by knockout.
Pascal now ranked at fifth in the WBC ratings, but likely heading to a rematch with Kovalev in early 2016.
"If he wants to compete against me, he will have to be the mandatory challenger," Stevenson told TVA. "He gave up his seat, which would have allowed him to face me. I will not give him a shot. Let him follow the same steps as everyone else who is aspiring to become number one. I had to do it myself. Nobody gave me a shot to help me to get to where I am."
Meanwhile, Stevenson (26-1-0, 21 KOs) will defend his title against Tommy Karpency (25-4-1, 14 KOs) in Toronto on September 11.
As far as Kovalev, he is still in place as the mandatory challenger to Stevenson's belt. Kovalev and his promoters walked away from a purse bid when it became evident that Stevenson's side would win it.
"Very few people are aware in Quebec, but Kovalev and his team dropped the purse bid to focus on the contract with HBO," Stevenson said.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.