WBC Light-Heavyweight world champion Adonis Stevenson
successfully made the sixth defense of his world championship by scoring a
devastating third round knockout over WBC number nine rated contender Tommy Karpency
on Friday night at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Although
this fight began at a measured pace, it was the champion who dictated the
combat.
Stevenson had a clear speed and power advantage over
Karpency. The champion demonstrated his power by being able to stun the
challenger with a counter left hook halfway through the first round when
Karpency appeared to be having some success in landing a partial combination on
the champion.
It was in the closing seconds of the second round
however, that Stevenson would nearly bring the fight to a sudden conclusion. The
champion staggered Karpency with a straight left hand and sent the challenger
down to the canvas with a follow-up barrage. Karpency showed his mettle by getting
up at the count of nine just barely beating the count and was able to survive
the round. Karpency however, was not able to recover between rounds to and
three as the champion quickly pounced on the challenger at the start of the
third round quickly flooring Karpency for the second time. Although Karpency
would get up from the knockdown again at the count of nine, the bout was
stopped by Referee Hector Afu. Official time of the stoppage was :21 of round
three.
Adonis Stevenson advances to 27-1, with 22 Knockouts.
Tommy Karpency falls to 25-5-1, with 14 Knockouts.
Although Karpency had some sporadic success in being able
to land his offense on Stevenson, he simply was not able to let his hands go
consistently. This can be attributed to Stevenson’s style in which he uses
significant lateral movement to evade his opponents and set up counter punch
opportunities.
It is unclear coming out of this fight whether Stevenson
is any closer to a potential unification clash with undefeated unified
WBO/IBF/WBA Light-Heavyweight world champion Sergey Kovalev in a fight that
would determine an Undisputed Light-Heavyweight world champion. Both fighters
have continued to defeat all opposition placed before them, often by way of
knockout.
As this observer stated following Kovalev’s knockout over
Nadjib Mohammedi in July although there may be fighters who could be in
position to challenge either Kovalev or Stevenson for their respective world
championships, in my eyes it is time to make Stevenson-Kovalev a reality. It
would be a fight that would not only determine the best Light-Heavyweight in
the world, but also quite frankly the best fight that could be made right now
in the Light-Heavyweight division. Whether or not Stevenson-Kovalev will come
either later this year or in early 2016 remains to be seen. The opinion of this
observer however, will not change. Gentlemen it’s time.
“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”
The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau
Denison All Rights Reserved.
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