Adonis Stevenson, who survived a scare from Andrzej Fonfara in May while defending his WBC light heavyweight championship, could be facing fellow Canadian resident Jean Pascal in April 2015.
Stevenson moved to Showtime in March, eschewing plans to face Sergey Kovalev, in what seemed to be a maneuver to eventually take on WBA and IBF champion Bernard Hopkins. Stevenson's abrupt departure from HBO marked one of the major issues with the "Cold War" that has ruined many matchups over the years, but Hopkins' next move was a shocker.
The 49-year-old Hopkins elected to face Kovalev next, despite the HBO and Showtime divide. Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya and Top Rank CEO Bob Arum are making a concerted effort to cross-promote more, as evidenced by Canelo Alvarez's move to HBO earlier this week. Hopkins and Kovalev will fight on November 8 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
That left Stevenson out in the cold; he has not become a major draw, and the top two opponents available to him are now fighting one another. A fight with Pascal, though, has the potential to be a very big deal in Montreal at the Bell Centre.
"We have reserved the Bell Center for that date long ago. Every year, we reserve a strategic date, and that date has been reserved from a long time ago at Bell Centre," Stevenson's promoter Yvon Michel said.
"Adonis is committed to the WBC to fight his mandatory contender, and that mandatory contender is Jean Pascal, so if we are able to come to an agreement, then that April 4 date would be the perfect date for that."
While Stevenson would be favored in a fight against Pascal, the Haitian-born contender has won his last three fights since dropping a unanimous decision to Hopkins in 2011. Pascal's most recent fight was in January, when he cruised by Lucian Bute to a unanimous decision.
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