By Lyle Fitzsimmons
It suddenly seems like decades ago.
But fans of modern light heavyweights will remember exactly where they were on Nov. 30, 2013.
It was that night at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City that the two most prominent claimants to world 175-pound supremacy — Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev — dispatched overmatched foes in a combined eight rounds while stoking the fires for unification.
At the time, everyone thought such a match was imminent. Particularly HBO, which had positioned the successive bouts in hopes that some verbal punches might land in addition to the glove-clad ones.
The Russian dutifully did his part, vaporizing Ismayl Sillakh in less than four minutes and clearly proclaiming "Adonis" as his desired next quarry when asked afterward by network ace Max Kellerman.
Stevenson followed with a six-round beatdown of British challenger Tony Bellew in the ring.
But it was the Haitian's lukewarm outside response to the prospect of a summit that's led to the nonviolent path that the rival champs have been on for the past 790 days.
Rather than getting things started by snarling “Krusher” in response to Kellerman’s second “Who’s got next?” question of the night, the Kronk-reared Superman pumped the brakes by suggesting a number of others could generate as much heat as Kovalev in his adopted home province.
Among them were then-IBF title claimant Bernard Hopkins, whose mere mention — thanks to his alliance with Golden Boy Promotions and, by extension at the time, Showtime — left a suddenly egg-faced HBO duo scrambling to reiterate that Kovalev deserved a date if Stevenson truly craved credibility.
“Kovalev is considered the best light heavyweight in the world and he would be favored to beat Adonis Stevenson and any other light heavyweight in the world,” Kellerman said. “If Adonis Stevenson is content to be just a Canadian world champion, he could take those other fights. But if his point is to become a real superstar in boxing, I don’t think there’s a way around Kovalev in near future.”
Somehow, though, for the past two years and two months, he’s found a way.
And the more time that passes, the more prescient the "he's content" approach seems.
The now-38-year-old maintains an “I’ll fight Kovalev” company line whenever pressed by inquiring microphones, but his post-Bellew jumps to the Showtime and Al Haymon cliques have contributed to public consensus that one guy lives for accomplishment while the other values preservation.
Kovalev drubbed Hopkins and got two more belts about a year after beating Sillakh, and his rumored late-2016 showdown with ex-super middleweight virtuoso Andre Ward goes miles toward making a case that he’s willing to boldly risk sanctioning status to earn competitive reward.
Meanwhile, Stevenson has won two decisions and scored two stoppages against drastically less inspiring opposition since 2013. And, according to Kovalev promoter Kathy Duva at least, it was his side that torpedoed the latest — and possibly last — try at an agreement to get a fight done for June.
Duva said she and Yvon Michel, Stevenson’s Canadian representative, had their ducks in a row. But buy-in from Stevenson and Haymon was a dead end.
“Either Al is putting his interests ahead of Adonis’ or Adonis doesn’t want the fight,” she said.
“I have to come to the conclusion Adonis doesn’t want the fight. If he did, he’d stand up to his manager and tell him to make the fight. We had a site (MGM Grand in Las Vegas), a date, everything in place, a 50/50 split. They walked away from that deal. They know it’s not coming back.”
Stevenson and Haymon and Co. would surely spin it otherwise.
In fact, their chief television ally, Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza, said he’d be fine with either letting the fight go to the highest bidding network — a concept Kovalev's handlers dismiss — or building a joint pay-per-view with HBO similar to Mayweather-Pacquiao last year and Lewis-Tyson in 2002.
“There are multiple ways to solve this problem. It’s not that complicated,” Espinoza said. “It’s the right fight for both guys, for the fans and the networks.
“Those in the sport should be doing all we can to make it happen.”
He’s a smart guy and he makes a valid point.
But if perception is reality, Team Kovalev still holds high ground with folks who fill the seats.
The Haitian is the lineal champion. The Russian is the fighting champion.
And if Stevenson doesn’t move every mountain to show he wants more than the Andrzej Fonfaras of the world — meaning something slightly more tangible than the WWE-style run-in to Kovalev’s post-victory interview Saturday night, where his “charge” was held at bay by Kellerman’s left arm — it’s unlikely he’ll be recalled as anything more than the other champion.
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This week’s title-fight schedule:
No fights scheduled
Last week’s picks: 1-0 (WIN: Kovalev)
2016 picks record: 2-2
Overall picks record: 734-251 (74.5 percent)
NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.
Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.
