By Ben Jacobs
Adonis Stevenson (21-1, 18 KOs) completed his mandatory seven day weigh in and insisted he is in terrific shape as he prepares to make the first defense of his WBC light-heavyweight title on September 28 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
“I feel great, in shape. I had a tremendous training camp - I’m ready for September 28,” said Stevenson via telephone to BoxingScene.
“I know that Tavoris Cloud will come for me, but I will make him pay for the mistakes he makes.”
Stevenson has seen some of Cloud’s previous championship bouts and is aware of the qualities that the Floridian brings to the table. Nevertheless, he expects the same outcome as that which he inflicted on Chad Dawson.
“I expect to knock out Cloud. I don’t fight to go 12 rounds, if I do then I can but my focus and training is for the knockout.
“I think Gabriel Campillo won that fight against him, but they gave it to Cloud. Campillo isn’t a power puncher, but he is a southpaw. Any orthodox fighter against a southpaw is going to have a problem. And it’ll be a problem for Cloud against me.
“Cloud looked slow against Bernard Hopkins but in boxing you can have a bad night. I expect Cloud to be stronger since the Hopkins loss - I expect the best of him.”
The Haitian-Canadian feels that sometimes his skills are overlooked due to his high knockout ratio.
“I don’t only just get knock outs, I have a different skill level too. It’s good to have power but you have to have good technique as well. If you only have power you can’t be a world champion, you need both. Emmanuel Steward taught me technique and footwork. I go to the head and body, I mix my combinations.”
Should Stevenson defeat Cloud, he will have to face Britain’s Tony Bellew, who is the WBC’s number one contender and previously won an eliminator to earn the position. But Stevenson is only thinking about this Saturday’s battle, for the moment.
“I’m not focused on Tony Bellew right now. I have a big fight coming up and he [Cloud] is better than Tony Bellew. He’s a former world champion. He’s bigger and better than Bellew.
“This could be the fight of the year cause of our styles. It’s gonna be fireworks on September 28.”
Adonis also offered words on Nathan Cleverly’s defeat to Sergey Kovalev and the November 23 showdown between Carl Froch and George Groves.
“Sergey Kovalev is a power puncher and Cleverly had never fought one before, so it wasn’t an upset. He fought some decent fighters and built his name up, but it’s different. I fought the best in Chad Dawson, now I’m gonna fight the former light heavyweight champion, Tavoris Cloud. I don’t fight a guy I know I can beat. If you want more credibility you need to fight the best available. You saw what happened with a big puncher like Kovalev. Cleverly can come back strong though,” he added.
“Carl Froch will beat George Groves. Groves has good technique and skills but he doesn’t have the power to stop Carl Froch. That’s why Froch will win. You have to have power to break down Froch. Groves is a good boxer but he doesn’t have the power to beat Froch.
“I want to thank all my fans in England and please follow me on Twitter @AdonisSuperman .”
