By Rick Reeno
Should everything fall into place on Friday night, light heavyweight contender Eleider Alvarez (19-0, 10KOs) will be the next opponent for WBC world champion Adonis Stevenson (27-1, 22KOs) in the fall, according to their mutual promoter Yvon Michel of GYM.
Alvarez, who is the WBC's mandatory challenger, will face Robbie Berridge at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Quebec. Stevenson headlines the card with a title defense against Thomas Williams Jr.
Initially there were discussions to have Alvarez take one more fight in the fall, potentially against former world champion Jean Pascal. Michel tells BoxingScene.com that a different direction will be taken, with Stevenson and Alvarez fighting each other sooner than later.
Over the weekend, Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum told BoxingScene that he was informed by World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman that he intends to order a world title eliminator between 2012 Olympic bronze medal winner Oleksandr Gvozdyk (11-0, 9KOs) and big puncher Joe Smith Jr. (22-1, 18KOs).
Michel spoke with Sulaiman, who assured him that #3 ranked Artur Beterbiev would not be skipped over. Smith is ranked at #2 while Gvozdyk sits at #6.
"I spoke with Mauricio and he told me that Artur Beterbiev will not be skipped over a fighter who is ranked at 6th," Michel told BoxingScene.com.
Michel is very confident in matching Beterbiev against Smith, with the winner receiving a world title shot in 2017.
In his last fight, Smith pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year and the biggest win of his career.
He was a huge underdog coming into the fight, but managed to knock out highly regarded Andrzej Fonfara in the first round last month at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Fonfara himself was on the verge of a rematch with Stevenson and took on Smith as a stay-busy fight. Smith decked Fonfara twice before the fight was waved off at 2:32 of the first.
