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World Light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson will defend his WBC and Lineal titles against Andrzej Fonfara in a rematch of their 2014 bout. The two will meet again on June 3rd, 2017 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
In their first bout, Stevenson came out of the gates firing. He dominated the first seven rounds and dropped Fonfara in rounds three and five. But just when we thought it would be a matter of time before Adonis Superman got another KO, Fonfara fought his way back and had Stevenson in trouble after knocking him down in the 9th round. The champion was able to hang on though and win by unanimous decision.
Road to the Rematch
After the defeat, Fonfara won three fights in a row including high profile wins over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Nathan Cleverly. But then Fonfara suffered a major setback after getting knocked out by the unheralded Joe Smith in June of 2016. He’s rebounded from that defeat with a KO win over Chad Dawson last March.
Stevenson, meanwhile, successfully defended his belts four more times after fighting Fonfara. He knocked out Dmitry Sukhotsky, Tom Karpency and Thomas Williams Jr. and decisioned Saiko Bika. Superman has not lost a bout since getting knocked out by Darnell Boone in his only professional defeat in 2010. He is nearing 40 years old but remains a force to be reckoned with because of his powerful left hand.
Odds and Prediction
Stevenson is a -2000 favorite over the +800 Fonfara. But these are just numbers. Fonfara does have size advantage and is the much younger and athletic fighter between the two. Although Stevenson beat Fonfara by unanimous decision three years ago, the latter was able to land on Superman and both fighters were dropped in that bout. So if you’re looking for an upset, there is value with the big plus money.
However, if you compare the skill-set of both fighters, Stevenson is the more complete boxer. He also packs more power in his fists, has better head movement and more importantly, has shown that he can take a punch better than Fonfara. Fonfara has been knocked out twice in his career and we saw that in his recent fight against Joe Smith where he was a -2300 favorite. Stevenson will also be fighting in front of a home crowd that is surely going to be a big factor should Fonfara survive Superman’s juggernaut. Either way, we’re picking Adonis Stevenson to beat Andrzej Fonfara here.
