Yunieski Gonzalez’s Promoter: 2 Wins, Then Kovalev or Stevenson

by David P. Greisman

Yunieski Gonzalez’s two straight losses haven’t taken him out of the running for contention in the light heavyweight division, but he needs to rattle off two consecutive victories in order to be considered for a shot at one of the best 175-pounders, according to his promoter, Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing.

Gonzalez dropped a unanimous decision to Jean Pascal last July in a fight that many observers felt was a robbery. But when Gonzalez got another shot last December, he wound up coming up short in a majority decision loss to prospect Vyacheslav Shabranskyy, bringing his record to 16-2 with 12 KOs.

“Although it was a good fight, a tough fight, and fans liked the fight against Shabranskyy, I was a little disappointed,” DeGuardia said. “I thought he would do better. I think he left the jab in the gym. When he used the jab, when he was trying to set things up, he looked great. But he was looking, I think, for that one punch. That affected him.”

The defeat sent Gonzalez “back to the drawing board” and has sent him to Russia to train and to “do the things that made him successful in the first place” said DeGuardia, who said Gonzalez is “going back to the basics.”

DeGuardia is hoping Gonzalez will work his way back into consideration in what he called a “hot division,” one with two claimants to the top spot — lineal champion and world titleholder Adonis Stevenson, and three-belt unified titleholder Sergey Kovalev.

“First he’s got to get another win under his belt, or two. And then after that we’ll look and see who we’re going to target,” DeGuardia said. “Obviously Kovalev, that’s the one you want. He’s really the best in the division. There’s another guy who says he’s the best in the division as well, Adonis Stevenson. Either one of those will be the target, because you’re always looking to target the best.”

Kovalev is on track to face former super middleweight champion Andre Ward later this year. Ward has moved into the light heavyweight division and will face Sullivan Barrera in March.

DeGuardia would prefer Gonzalez face Kovalev or Stevenson rather than Ward, given the status they presently have at 175. He wouldn’t turn down a fight with Ward were the opportunity to come, however.

“Obviously if we can make an Andre Ward fight, that’s something we’d value because he’s a big name and a great fighter,” DeGuardia said.

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