The WBC has received official communication from mandatory contender Eleider Alvarez advising that he entered into an step aside agreement allowing WBC champion Adonis Stevenson to make a voluntary defense . Following is the letter received by the WBC which is self explanatory :
Dear Mr President,
By this email, I wish to confirm that the WBC Silver Light heavyweight champion, #1 and mandatory contender to WBC champion Adonis Stevenson, has voluntarily agreed to step aside from his privilege, to give the opportunity to Adonis Stevenson of making a voluntary title defense in is up and coming fight.
It is understood both fighters, Stevenson and his opponent, are going to confirm, in writing, their commitment to defend the WBC light heavyweight title against Alvarez, in the very next fight, if they are the winner of this voluntarily title defense.
Thank you very much for your collaboration,
All yours,
Yvon
YVON MICHEL
President Directeur General
Step Aside agreements are a common practice in boxing and a provision under the Rules and Regulations.
The WBC light heavyweight division has not had a mandatory defense in a prolonged period of time but for reasons outside the control of our champion , consequently the WBC has decided to order a final elimination bout between WBC International champion Joe Smith vs the NABF champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk with the winner becoming a second mandatory contender of the division .
http://wbcboxing.com/wbceng/news/8259-wbc-light-heavyweight-division-update
Great fight for both parties imo. Who are you picking?
LMAO 2nd mandatory to Stevenson. He's been ducking his first one for 18 months. Maybe his 2nd mandatory will finally get a shot in 2020.
Good fight though.
This is a damn good fight.. Gvozdyk's chin isn't great & Smith can punch hard.. Should been an interesting fight..
I favor Gvozdyk but only by 51/49 margin
If he gets clipped like he did against Karpency he'll be in trouble
Winnable fight for Joe imo
Joe can hurt anyone, but from what I heard from Gvozdyk camp they didn't took Karpency seriously and almost got smashed.
But they gonna be prepared for this one, Gvozdyk can be far more disciplined.
Gvozdyk is very skilled but that chin is dodgy, if Smith lands clean Alex is in a world of trouble.
I strongly favour Gvozdyk by stoppage though, he's very sharp and accurate, that right hand is dynamite.
Gvozdyk will take it, but it's hard to root against Joe, so Joe ftw
If he gets clipped like he did against Karpency he'll be in trouble
Winnable fight for Joe imo