Adonis Stevenson Vs Sakio Bika: Sergey Kovalev Awaits the Winner of a Truly Pointless Fight!
By Travis Fleming
This Saturday, April 4th, boxing returns to free TV on CBS as part of Al Haymon’s “Premier Boxing Champions” series. Lineal light heavyweight champion, Adonis Stevenson takes on rugged veteran, and former super middleweight champion, Sakio Bika, in front of Stevenson’s home crowd in Quebec City, Quebec.
Make no mistakes about this fight; it is a terribly weak title defense for the man who is supposed to be the king of the light heavyweights. Sakio Bika lost his last fight, in a weight class below, to a non-elite fighter, so how Stevenson is being allowed to defend against him is beyond me.
Stevenson won his title, in incredible fashion, by first round knockout over two time champion Chad Dawson. He then defended it, in equally stunning form, by destroying former champion Tavoris Cloud. Since then, Stevenson has done nothing but hold his title hostage while being kept away from legit challenges like, the monster in the closet, Sergey Kovalev, Bernard Hopkins, Jean Pascal and Artur Beterbiev. Stevenson’s 2014 was underwhelming, to say the least, and his 2015 is starting out in even weaker fashion against a career super middleweight who is past his prime. It’s been very frustrating to see the turn Stevenson’s career has taken after an incredible 2013 where he was, arguably, the fighter of the year. Stevenson is, without a doubt, one of boxing’s hardest punchers, and most athletic fighters. Under the tutelage of the legendary Manny Steward, he developed into a dangerous boxer/puncher. He has a questionable chin, and doesn’t appear to adapt on the fly, but his athleticism and power are enough to put him in the elite ranks. Fans have been pushing for a unification bout, in which Stevenson faces Sergey Kovalev, but being on separate networks, with different high level promoters/managers, makes it difficult to put the fight together.
Sakio Bika became known to fight fans eight years ago for winning “The Contender” television series back in 2007. Since then, he has fought the best of the super middleweight division, but has, ultimately, fallen short at the elite level. He is now 35 years old and fighting above his weight against a monstrous puncher. Luckily, he has the experience advantage, and a cast iron chin. He has a very awkward style that’s hard to control, he’s as scrappy as it gets, he has respectable power, and he possesses underrated ring acumen. Bika has fought above his talent level for his whole career, and fared well. He gave tough fights, in losing efforts, to prime versions of Andre Ward, Joe Calzaghe, and Lucien Bute. Bika has beaten some good fighters in Sam Soliman, Jaidon Codrington, and Peter Manfredo Jr. He showed his toughness, and resilience, by winning the vacant WBC super middleweight championship, in the tail end of his career, in a hard fought upset against highly touted Marco Antonio Periban. His first two defenses were both against Anthony Dirrell. He retained his belt with a draw in their first contest which called for an immediate rematch. In the rematch, Bika lost his belt to Dirrell via close decision. He’s had a good run, but he was never elite. He has done absolutely nothing to earn another super middleweight title shot, let alone a shot at the king of a higher weight division.
On paper, Stevenson should steam roll the aging, and undersized, Bika, but there’s a few things that make this fight interesting. Bika is relentless and awkward, and Stevenson doesn’t like to get roughed up. Bika can really take a punch, he’s rarely been hurt, and he’s never been knocked out against an amazing level of opposition. Although Stevenson’s skill and power is undeniable, there’s another thing that factors in, that is Stevenson’s chin. He has been hurt by lesser punchers than Bika.
I expect Stevenson to use his size and superior talent to decision Sakio Bika, but I wouldn’t be completely shocked by an upset for the reasons mentioned in this column. If Adonis can KO Bika, he’ll get no props for it, due to Bika not deserving the fight, but, in my opinion, it would be very impressive to hand the iron chinned Bika his first knockout loss. According to the WBC, the winner of this fight must fight Sergey Kovalev next in order to keep their world championship belt, that’s the good news.
