Adonis Stevenson
Known for his fast hand speed[1] and exceptional knockout power,[2] Stevenson was considered one of boxing's hardest punchers during his prime.[3][4] For more than five years, he made ten successful defenses of the WBC and lineal titles until sustaining a life-threatening brain injury in his 2018 fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk.In his early twenties, after a criminal trial in 1998 in Quebec, Stevenson served 18 months of a four-year prison sentence for managing prostitutes, assault, and issuing threats.Stevenson competed in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, and won the silver medal, losing to local Australian Jarrod Fletcher in the final.On August 1, 2009, at Windsor Station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Stevenson defeated Anthony Bonsante by first round knockout.[13] Nonetheless, Stevenson resumed with GYM Promotions and won the North American title NABA on April 8, 2011, at the expense of Derek Edwards by KO in the third round.Stevenson jumped from 15th to 2nd position for the IBF title, winning by KO in the first round duel against Jesús González on February 18, 2012.[20] On February 4, 2013, it was announced that Stevenson would get the chance to avenge his only loss as a professional against Darnell Boone (19–20–3, 8KOs) with the fight taking place on March 22 at the Bell Centre.[21] Stevenson avenged his only loss, knocking out Darnell Boone with a pair of lefts in the sixth round on March 22, 2013, at the Bell Centre.[22] Stevenson moved up to light heavyweight to challenge Lineal/WBC/The Ring champion Chad Dawson (31–2, 17 KOs) on June 8, 2013, at the Bell Centre.[28][29] The fight against former IBF champion Tavoris Cloud (24–1, 19 KOs) was confirmed on August 12, 2013, to take place on September 28 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, on HBO.[37] According to Nielsen Media Research firm, the fight attracted an average of 1.3 million viewers on the HBO network, making it the 5th most watched bout of 2013.[47] Michel explained Sukhotsky was selected as Stevenson's opponent because there would not have been enough time to get together and promote a fight with Jean Pascal (29–2–1, 17 KOs).[53][54] On July 27, 2015 Premier Boxing Champions announced that Stevenson would headline a card on Spike TV on September 11 against WBC #9 ranked Tommy Karpency (25–4–1, 14 KOs) at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto.He immediately knocked Karpency down after he got up, and the referee called a halt to the bout, awarding Stevenson a TKO victory in round 3.[59] On May 31, 2016, it was announced that Stevenson would defend his WBC and Lineal titles against 28 year old southpaw Thomas Williams Jr. (20–1, 14 KOs) on July 16 in Quebec headlining a Premier Boxing Champions card.He then knocked out former super-middleweight world champion Lucian Bute in February 2017 in a final eliminator to become mandatory challenger once again for the WBC light heavyweight title.On February 27, 2017, the WBC ordered negotiations to begin between Stevenson and Álvarez, who are both managed by Al Haymon and promoted by Yvon Michel of GYM for a deal to be reached within 30 days or they would force a purse bid on March 24.[64][65] Promoter Yvon Michel, stated on behalf of Álvarez, that he had averted from his mandatory position to allow Stevenson a voluntary defence.Yvon Michel later told ESPN that the fight would take place in Canada, at the Centre Bell in Montreal Quebec on June 3, 2017.I don't have to call out anybody," On the same card, Eleider Álvarez defeated Jean Pascal via majority decision to remain mandatory to Stevenson."[73] On September 8, 2017, mutual promoter Yvon Michel disclosed that there was serious ongoing negotiations between Stevenson and mandatory challenger Eleider Álvarez (23–0, 11 KOs) to fight before the end on 2017.Yvon Michel admitted he was working on a deal to keep Álvarez happy and this was the same reason as to why tickets had not yet gone on sale for the Stevenson-Jack fight, which was a month away.[85] On April 18, it was announced that a deal had been reached for Álvarez to challenge Sergey Kovalev (32–2–1, 28 KOs) for his WBO light heavyweight title on HBO.[95] On June 18, 2018, the WBC ordered Stevenson to make a mandatory defence against interim champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (15–0, 12 KOs).[102] Showtime confirmed they would televise the bout, which took place at Videotron Centre in Quebec, before the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury PPV telecast at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.Gvozdyk ended Stevenson's five-year reign as champion by stopping him in round 11 by TKO to claim the WBC and Lineal titles.Gvozdyk knocked Stevenson down with a counter right hand to the head in the opening seconds of the third round, which was incorrectly ruled a slip by referee Michael Griffin.[107][108] On December 20, despite a Russian tabloid reporting Stevenson had woken up and was seen speaking to family and friends, his promoter Yvon Michel stated he was still unconscious and his health had not improved since being sedated by doctors.[112] In 2012, in response to questioning at a press conference before a fight, Stevenson admitted to previously serving jail time in Bordeaux, Quebec, on charges of managing prostitutes, assault, and making threats.