By Jake Donovan
Adonis Stevenson defends his World light heavyweight crown for the fifth time as he faces Australia's Sakio Bika. The two collide Saturday afternoon at Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City, Canada, with the bout to air live on CBS (Saturday, 3:00pm ET).
Stevenson came in at 174.4 lbs. for his championship bout, but had to wait for his challenger to come correct in order for the title fight to become official.
Despite coming in as the perceived smaller fighter in a career spent at middleweight and super middleweight, Bika showed up heavy at 175.8 lbs. The former super middleweight titlist was granted up to two hours to drop the excess weight, but apparently only needed one hour.
Whatever measures taken to shed the weight proved effective; Bika returned more than a full pound lighter at 174.6 lbs., thus moving forward with Saturday's main event as scheduled.
The bout headlines the first edition of al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions series on CBS. The PBC tour has already made its way to NBC, NBC Sports and Spike TV.
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In the televised chief support, rising light heavywieght Artur Beterbiev faces former titlist Gabriel Campillo in a dangerous crossroads bout. Beterbiev (7-0, 7KOs) tipped the scales at the divisional limit of 175 lbs., while Campillo (25-6-1, 12KOs) came in at 174.6 lbs.
Eight more bouts grace the undercard, with the first fight set to begin at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Leading the non-televised portion of the show—although possibly making the broadcast should time permit—unbeaten Julian 'J-Rock' Williams squares off versus veteran Joe "Twinkle Fingers" Hernandez (not to be confused with BoxingScene.com Senior Writer David "Twinkle Fingaz" Greisman). Williams (18-0-1, 11KOs) comfortably checked in at 154.6 lbs., while Hernandez (24-2-1, 14KOs) was forced to strip down to his bare essentials in order for the scale to wiggle down to 155 lbs.
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FULL CARD/WEIGHTS
Adonis Stevenson, 174.4 lbs. vs. Sakio Bika, 175.8 lbs.* - 12 rds, light heavyweight
Artur Beterbiev, 175 lbs. vs. Gabriel Campillo, 174.6 lbs. - 12 rds, light heavyweight
Julian Williams, 154.6 lbs. vs. Joey Hernandez, 155 lbs. - 10 rds, junior middleweight
Kevin Bizier, 149.4 lbs. vs. Fouad El Massoudi, 148.6 lbs. - 8 rds, welterweight
Oscar Rivas, 251.2 lbs. vs. Dezcan Cetinkaya, 219.4 lbs. - 8 rds, heavyweight
Custio Clayton, 151.8 lbs. vs. Ronald Berti, 151.6 lbs. - 6 rds, junior middleweight
Sebastien Bouchard, 149 lbs. vs. Denis Farias, 149.2 lb. - 6 rds, junior middleweight
Jan Michael Poulin, 159.4 lbs. vs. Michel Tsalla, 159.2 lbs. - 6 rds, middleweight
Shakeel Phinn, 168 lbs. vs. Roody Rene, 168 lbs. - 4 rds, super middleweight
Vislan Dakhaev, 121.4 lbs. vs. Dale Hadjouis, 122.4 lbs. - 4 rds, featherweight
*Bika has two hours to lose 0.8 lbs.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox