Stevenson Wants to Face Smith in NY; 4/29 Negotiations Ongoing

[Ruthless-RKO]

Promoter Yvon Michel is optimistic regarding negotiations for Adonis Stevenson to defend his WBC light heavyweight title against Joe Smith Jr. The Stevenson fight Michel is discussing with Joe DeGuardia, Smith’s promoter, would take place April 29 at the newly renovated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

Smith, who knocked out legend Bernard Hopkins last month, is from Mastic, New York, another Long Island town that’s about a 45-minute drive from Uniondale.

“We’re still talking,” Michel told BS on Friday. “We’re making progress. We have things we have to take care of, but we’re moving forward.”

Michel emphasized that Stevenson is more than willing to travel to New York to make this title defense. The Quebec-based Stevenson (28-1, 23 KOs) has developed a large fan base in Canada and each of his past 13 fights have been held either in Montreal or Quebec City.

“Stevenson wants to do it,” Michel said. “So we’re trying to find a way that everybody will be happy. Adonis is a team player. He’s working with his manager [Al Haymon] very closely. We work together very closely. He understands. He’s telling us what he wants to do. He’s trusting everybody and that where we wanna go, that it’s the best thing for him. He has no problem going wherever we decide we need to go.”

The 27-year-old Smith (23-1, 19 KOs), a full-time union laborer, finds himself in realistic position for a title shot after back-to-back knockouts of Poland’s Andrzej Fonfara (28-4, 16 KOs, 1 NC) and Philadelphia’s Hopkins (55-8-2, 32 KOs, 2 NC) in 2016. He is the WBC’s No. 5-ranked contender for Stevenson’s 175-pound championship.

[Bard of Boxrec]

quelle surprise that Aduckis Chickenson goes for the low hanging fruit

[victor-romeo]

quelle surprise that Aduckis Chickenson goes for the low hanging fruit

[Horse]

[ElJefe]

Would have liked to have seen Smith have a couple of more fights while training full time over the next 12 months before a title shot. I imagine Adonis would have too much for him at this stage. Still, will be rooting for another Smith upset if the fight happens.

[punchoutsb]

It would be absolutely amazing if Joe dimmed his lights for him. Simply perfect.

[MachoTime]

Stevenson is 39 years old. Joe Smith Jr. is 27. Certainly Smith has got a very good punchers chance to get Stevenson out of there. Usually a punchers chance is 10-20%. I'd give Smith a 40-50% punchers chance against Stevenson.

[caldo2025]

Of course The Pimp Punk wants this fight. He just loves these overrated fighters coming off a big win on primetime. Smith is green and probably not a world class boxer but he has the public's attention after a couple of strong wins so it's a perfect fight for Adonis. But Adonis will continue to yap about Kovalev even though he's a punk and ducked him continuously.

[Evander]

Someone better put Stevenson in a big fight he's almost evaporating in front of our eyes.

[jujigatame]

I'm fine with this. Should be a great fight. LHW division needs a lot more fights like this.

[Oiky]

I'd love to joe to beat Stevenson by brutal ko