By Luke Furman
Light heavyweight contender Eleider Alvarez (22-0, 11 KOs) has no faith in landing his mandatory shot at WBC world champion Adonis Stevenson.
Alvarez has been the mandatory challenger since his victory over Isaac Chilemba in November 2015. Since that win, Alvarez has been waiting on the bench - crossing his fingers to get Stevenson in the ring.
On June 3rd at the Bell Centre in Canada, the two fighters will be involved in a doubleheader - and the winners of both fights are expected to face each other in the fall. Stevenson will defend his title in a rematch with Polish boxer Andrzej Fonfara, while Alvarez will take on former world champion Jean Pascal.
The winner of Stevenson-Fonfara will be contractually forced to face Alvarez. Even with a signature in writing, Alvarez does not believe Stevenson will face him - which is why he hopes Fonfara will pull off the win.
"To have any hope of having my world championship fight [I came to the conclusion that] Stevenson must lose the belt. I hope he will lose against Fonfara. I hope he loses the belt, because he does not want to face me," Alvarez said to RDS.
"People know me more, love me more and are finally start recognizing my work. My victory against Lucian [Bute] has helped me win more supporters, but I have not yet reached my goal. Against Jean, it's the same thing. This is another barrier."
Promoter Yvon Michel, who promotes both Alvarez and Stevenson, believes the contest will happen if both win.
"No matter what Adonis is going to say, American television will buy the fight [Stevenson-Alvarez] if Eleider manages to beat Jean Pascal,"assured Michel. "The WBC will force it. The WBC already ordered a second eliminator between Joe Smith and Oleksandr Gvozdyk. The winner of Stevenson-Fonfara could have two mandatory fights in a row."
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org