Hopkins: Stevenson's Claim To 175 Throne Getting Thin

By Steve Kim

On the night of March 14th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Bernard Hopkins was on hand as part of the HBO broadcast crew that called Sergey Kovalev's impressive eight round stoppage of Jean Pascal. Shortly after the fight, Hopkins had a conversation with one Adonis Stevenson, who holds the lineal light heavyweight championship.

Stevenson promised Hopkins that he would soon face 'the Krusher', who has the WBA, WBO and IBF belts around his waist.

Hopkins, who was ringside for the Golden Boy Promotions card at the Fantasy Springs Casino last Friday night said:

"I believe Stevenson has a lot of heart, I believe that he feels that he would beat just about anybody at 175. I think as a fighter, you'll fight anyone in your weight class. But he'll be held accountable in the eyes of the fans, the people, his history and his legacy."

Last year, the two seemed to be on a collision course and then Stevenson signed on with adviser, Al Haymon, who promptly steered him in the path of least resistance. But according to Hopkins, the bottom line stops with the fighter.

"No one's going to blame Al Haymon because he didn't fight, no one's going to blame this or that - they're going to look at the fighter and say 'wait a minute, if you wanted to fight him, you should've fought him.' Right now it becomes a soap opera or bad journalism by talking about who's controlling his mind," stated Hopkins.

"But at the end of the day, last time I read, Stevenson says he makes his own decisions but he confides in people that he trusts. So now he's accountable to what the world and the audience in Canada heard him say - and that's where he lives in Montreal - so I'm looking at Stevenson to uphold his stance, his words to fight Sergey Kovalev for the undisputed championship of the world."

On April 4th, Stevenson faces Sakio Bika at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City. Kovalev is obligated to face Nadjib Mohemmedi, his IBF mandatory defense, in his next fight.

Hopkins - who out out-pointed by Kovalev last November - believes that the onus is on Adonis to make this match-up come to fruition.

"Because the perception, right now, is that on paper he's the guy that beat the guy - but that paper is getting thin."

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com