There is a bevy of fights on the card today, but I am really only interested in watching the fights between Lee Selby-Josh Warrington, and this one I have highlighted here for the WBC World Light-Heavyweight championship between Adonis Stevenson and Badou Jack. The odds for this fight were in Stevenson's favor at -140, but I thought and was right, that it would be down to a pick em on the day of the fight. And sure enough they are both -110 favorites.
Since Stevenson won this belt back in 2013 he has had eight title defenses where he retained it against all of them. But all of his opponents have not been on the same level in terms of boxing talent as Badou Jack, although a case can be made for Tony Bellew. Stevenson is known as a fast puncher who is one of the hardest hitters in this sport, hence all of the knock outs. He will be going against a taller, younger Badou Jack who is a former champion himself. Unlike Stevenson's weak opponents, Jack has proved himself taking on the elite and becoming an elite himself, defeating George Groves, Anthony Direll, Nathan Cleverly, and going the distance with James DeGale which ended up in a draw.
This is a hard fight to break down who is going to win, how many rounds, etc. Stevenson will throw big punches, but landing as many will prove to be difficult as I think Jack will look to take him from inside the ring to the ropes. What I think we will see Jack do here is maybe look to get some head shots in to make Stevenson a little woozy, but cause damage by going to the body. If Stevenson wants to hold on to the title, he has to make Jack play his game and not go to the ropes, but try to hit him inside the ring which is much more difficult to do going for the body. Stevenson will soon realize that he will not win this fight with his powerful punches, but by getting more hits in and milking this fight for more rounds.
I am just really excited to see this fight tonight at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto which is only a couple hours away from me depending on the traffic. I should have planned my schedule a lot better in the coming months because I would have been able to go to this one.