By Luke Furman

With the recent retirement of WBO, IBF, WBA light heavyweight champion Andre Ward, promoter Yvon Michel is confident that Adonis Stevenson - the WBC champion - is universally the best fighter at 175-pounds. 

Michel, who promotes Stevenson, Eleider Alvarez and Artur Beterbiev, believes Ward's departure from the division will make it wide open.

"It's going to brighten the division up a bit," said Michel to La Presse. "When you have four titles that belong to different boxers fighting twice a year, that means you have eight contenders fighting for the world championship. It will renew the interest of fanss, because we will see new champions emerge and new boxers that we didn't know as well."

Beterbiev is already going for the vacant IBF world title when he faces the number three contender Enrico Kölling of Germany on the 11th of November in Fresno, California.

Michel's other two fighters at 175, Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) and Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs), are being lined up to face each other on a date in December in Quebec City.

Michel feels that Stevenson is now the top fighter at 175-pounds with Ward's withdrawal.

"Certainly Stevenson must first negotiate a deal with his mandatory challenger Alvarez, to fight by the end of 2017," said Michel. "But the fact that the belts will no longer belong to Ward will give Stevenson an easier path, if he wins against Alvarez, to unify the titles. "

"I see that the winner[of Stevenson vs. Alvarez] will deliver two or three fights next year against the champions of other associations. I am convinced that Adonis is the No. 1 light heavyweight, even more so with Andre Ward's retirement. I am convinced that he will be able to prove it in 2018. I think that his wishes for unification will be fulfilled in 2018. I do not believe either because of the boxers competing in the other associations will provide any difficulties related to television networks, as was the case during negotiations in the past. The new champions will realize that they do not have the same drawing power as the one that brings in the television networks (Stevenson). "

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.