By Ryan Maquiñana
Yvon Michel, promoter of newly crowned light heavyweight world champion Adonis Stevenson, advised BoxingScene.com/CSNBayArea.com that in the event a fight with Bernard Hopkins cannot be made, that he would be willing to do a two-fight deal with super middleweight king Andre Ward.
Stevenson (21-1, 18 KOs) stunned the boxing world with a one-round knockout of reigning 175-pound boss Chad Dawson (31-3, 17 KOs) last Saturday in front of his hometown fans of Montreal.
“Adonis’s first wish would be to fight Bernard Hopkins, and if that’s not feasible to make that fight, his second wish would be to fight Andre Ward,” Michel said. “Everyone is aware Ward is looking for an opponent that he hasn’t fought. He tried to fight [Julio Cesar] Chavez Jr., or Carl Froch, but Froch seems to be busy somewhere else, so he’s desperate to sign a quality opponent.”
As a result, Michel has proposed a home-and-home series where each fighter can defend his respective title on his own stomping grounds.
“And so on that, we’re willing [to fight Ward],” Michel said. “Adonis can fight at 168 or 175, so what we’re willing to do is to go to Oakland in September at 168, but on the condition that there’s a written rematch here [in Montreal] at 175, regardless of the result [in the first fight].”
Ward (26-0, 14 KOs) has not fought since last September, when he protected his Oakland, Calif., hometurf by stopping Dawson in 10 rounds, successfully defending his 168-pound world title in the process.
“Andre Ward took 10 rounds to dismantle a guy, who by his own admission was very, very weak, and drained in the fight,” Michel said. “Adonis took the best Chad Dawson, who said that he had the best training camp of life, and that he was back in his own weight division, and it took one punch for [Adonis] to take him out.”
After injuring his right shoulder during his last training camp, Ward has since undergone surgery in January and returned to the gym to prepare for a targeted September foe, according to his promoter Dan Goossen.
“They said they want to fight in September. We want to fight in September. If he wants a tune-up fight, just say so,” Michel said. “Don’t say otherwise because Adonis is available.”
Ryan Maquiñana was the boxing producer for NBCOlympics.com during London 2012 and writes a weekly column for CSNBayArea.com. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Ratings Panel for Ring Magazine. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com , check out his blog at Norcalboxing.net, or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.
