Stevenson: It Will Be Easier For Me To Hit, Hurt Kovalev

By Luke Furman

WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson was ringside on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, watching his countryman Jean Pascal get stopped in the eight round by WBA/WBO/IBF light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.

The win gave Kovalev the WBC's Diamond title and also made him the mandatory challenger to Stevenson. Before they can discuss a possible fight, they have other obligations. Kovalev has an IBF mandatory that he needs to satisfy and Stevenson defends his title against Sakio Bika on April 4th.

Stevenson liked what he saw from Kovalev's latest win. He felt Pascal easily landed his fair share of hard punches. Stevenson sees himself as being faster, a better boxer, and a harder puncher than Pascal.

"It will be easier for me than Pascal to hit and hurt Kovalev. We still have other fights to take care of, but I'm sure that we'll discuss a fight between the two of us...that there is no doubt," Stevenson told QMI Agency.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.