?He?s definitely a good fighter, but I?m a better fighter. He?s one of the toughest guys in boxing but I?m a tougher guy??
On Saturday, May 19, in a fight televised live on Showtime Championship Boxing from Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Quebec, Canada, WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) the hard-hitting southpaw from Blainville, Quebec, Canada, by way of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, defends his title against two-division champion Badou Jack (22-1-2, 13 KOs), the thinking man?s fighter from Las Vegas by way of Stockholm, Sweden.
Stevenson is a known quantity. He knocks guys out and the fans lap it up. An ex-con redeemed, insofar as any man is redeemed, by the sport of boxing, he?s as scary as he is often incoherent.
?Badou Jack is an excellent opponent,? Adonis said. ?He?s a good champion. He?s smart, he?s a two-time world champion, and he?s shown he?s a true competitor. He?s not coming to Canada to lose.?
Badou Jack is coming to win, but he is something of an anomaly. He doesn?t breathe fire. He has no rap sheet. Mild-mannered and polite, he?s not big on intimidation, unlike the defending champion.
?My promoter always tells me, ?Knockouts sell. Knockouts sell,?? said Stevenson. ?So that?s what I?m going to do. I can go 12 rounds, and I can box. But I want to knock out. That?s what I?m looking for.?
Stevenson is dangerous. He can end it at any time.
?I know Adonis is one of the hardest hitters in the business,? Badou said. ?I know he can give it, but can he take it?
?He can start looking for excuses now, because I?m going to knock him out.?
Not if Stevenson has anything to say about it.
?Badou, are you ready?? he asked at Thursday?s presser in Toronto. ?You?ve never been hit; that?s the problem. When you get hit, it?s going to be different.
?Don?t blink! Because it?s only going to take one punch to knock him out. I am looking for the knockout. It?s 12 rounds and I just need one punch. Only one. That?s all I need. And as soon as it lands, I?m going to knock him out, and he will stay on the floor.?
Jack?s not going to stand there and trade. He knows what he?s up against. He also knows what it takes to beat the champ.
?I asked for the Adonis Stevenson fight a long time ago and the Cleverly fight got me there. He didn?t ask for it. I called him out before I even moved up to light heavyweight. We?ve been talking to Floyd a long time about this fight. He?s a man of his word and he always said that I was going to fight Stevenson. I?m grateful for what he?s done and now I just have to take advantage of the opportunity.
?Adonis is definitely my toughest opponent on paper, but that doesn?t really mean he will be the toughest on fight night. Adonis has always fought everyone put in front of him and I respect that. He?s definitely a good fighter, but I?m a better fighter. He?s one of the toughest guys in boxing but I?m a tougher guy. I am excited to fight him and beat him.?
