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NOTES FROM THE BOXING UNDERGROUND: STEVENSON-JACK, A POSTMORTEM

By Paul Magno | May 21, 2018
NOTES FROM THE BOXING UNDERGROUND: STEVENSON-JACK, A POSTMORTEM

The majority draw after Saturday's twelve-round Adonis Stevenson-Badou Jack battle at Toronto's Air Canada Centre was not a bad decision. Actually, I had it scored 114-114 as well. But, while nobody officially won the bout, we all know who won the actual fight.

Jack, who planned on taking the 40-year-old Stevenson into late-round deep waters, looked tight and tentative in the first few rounds. But, as his overall strategy started to pay dividends over an increasingly weary "Superman," he came on in the second half of the contest and proceeded to pummel the defending champ for most of the last six rounds.  

To his credit, Stevenson fought to right his sinking ship and stopped Jack in his tracks at the end of the tenth round with a thudding body shot. In the eleventh, Jack looked to be the one in trouble and was clearly working to protect his gut and just survive. 

But Jack turned back the tide, took the twelfth, and secured the draw (as well as, hopefully, a rematch).

I'm not going to lie-- Adonis Stevenson is not my favorite human being in boxing. Forget the outside-the-ring history of brutalizing women (for which he never really "paid his dues" or, for that matter, ever even expressed much regret). I can separate the man from the professional. I'm not looking to boxing for role models or noble father figures. 

No, Stevenson has been on my shit list for being a shitty champion.

As I wrote last Friday, right here at FightHype: 

"Name any major fight at 175 over the last half-a-decade that Stevenson should've and could've been a part of -- and Stevenson HASN'T been a part of it. No Sergey Kovalev. No Bernard Hopkins. No Jean Pascal (in an all-Canada fight that should've been a no-brainer, money-making blockbuster trilogy). Even a Joe Smith Jr. fight-- when it made sense after Smith beat Hopkins into retirement-- could never materialize." 

However, the heavy-handed Haiti-born Canadian found plenty of time to fight Andrzej Fonfara-- twice-- and guys like Tommy Karpency, Dmitry Sukhotskiy, and Thomas Williams Jr. in an intentionally cynical cash-grabby series of defenses. When the high-water mark defenses of a five-year world title reign are versus pedestrian Tony Bellew, a beefed up Sakio Bika, and a softened-up Tavoris Cloud, then, man, that is a shitty championship run. 

Yeah, I get it-- boxing is a business and Stevenson was making career-high paydays while knocking over set-ups and soft touches. In the grand scheme of things, he's the big winner for making a lot while risking a little. 

But all professionals strive to mean something and leave some sort of legacy. The pride that drives you to competition is the same pride that compels you to make a mark on history. And Stevenson, the moment he stopped climbing to the top and actually GOT there, stopped caring about anything other than stuffing his pockets. 

Stevenson's championship reign has been a complete waste of both his talent and the time of the fans, who deserve to see good, competitive world class fights from a world class fighter. 

I was hoping Badou Jack would eliminate the pointless presence of Adonis Stevenson on Saturday and send him off to retirement to count his cash and giggle at the idiot fans who kept paying to see him in go-nowhere squashes. 

But, while hoping for a comeuppance, reality beat me over the head. 

Stevenson may be slipping and his skills in full atrophy from a run of no-hope opposition, but he's still a tremendous presence in the ring. His left hand may be the best weapon in all of boxing-- and clearly enough to win half a fight against a world class opponent from just the THREAT of its potential use.

I'm still rooting for Stevenson to have the WBC belt pried from his death grip, but I'm okay with him having it a little while longer if Jack is guaranteed a second shot at the bully beatdown.

But knowing Stevenson, we may have to sit through a Tommy Karpency title rematch before Jack gets his return bout.

Quick (S)hits:

-- Gary Russell Jr. and Joseph Diaz Jr. put on a hell of a show as the Stevenson-Jack co-feature on Showtime. At the end of the day, though, it boiled down to what I expected-- Russell, the defending WBC featherweight champ, was just too physically gifted for the well-schooled and plucky challenger. No matter how hard one tries, it's hard to counter God-given ability, especially if it's backed with extreme skill. Seeing how good Russell can be makes his inevitable and upcoming year-long rest another chapter in his tragic story of unfulfilled promise. BUT...

-- The guarded realist in me is hoping for a Russell return to the ring in the late fall against someone like Kiko Martinez as a direct pathway to the winner of Santa Cruz-Mares 2 in the spring, 2019. I'm crossing my fingers.

-- Stevenson-Jack referee Ian John Lewis getting popped in the face and bloodied up by an errant Jack shot was pure cosmic justice. Lewis seemed to be reffing the fight from Stevenson's back pocket, cockblocking the inside game and body work from Jack, but saying very little about the clutching and clinching of Stevenson.

-- Realistically, Lee Selby-Josh Warrington isn't a fight that would have much appeal beyond the UK. But using it as a late afternoon social media/YouTube stream and attention-grabber was a stroke of genius by Showtime. It had the hardcore fans buzzing about the big show later that night all throughout the day.

-- Isn't it great to have a night of boxing where the talk is only about what happened in the ring and not why so and so isn't fighting so and so or why the main event isn't a symptom of what's wrong with the sport? Amazing what happens when good, competitive fights that actually mean something are made, isn't it? 

Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com

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