Adonis Stevenson vs. Jesus Gonzales: Now It’s Personal (what a mess)

by Hans Olson

Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Adonis “Superman” Stevenson takes on Jesus Gonzales in an IBF sanctioned eliminator for their #2 ranking at 168 lb.

Stevenson, who has been on a roll as of late (his 2011 included 3 big wins, the marquee victory being a demolition of Aaron Pryor Jr. in December), and appears to be on the fast track to stardom.

Throughout his career, few people knew that when Adonis was a teenager, the Haitian-born southpaw did 18 months in jail on charges of managing prostitutes and assault.

Although the promotional build-up to Stevenson’s clash with Gonzales had been tepid at best—most of the media’s attention was spent on Stevenson’s new pairing with Emmanuel Steward—at today’s presser in Montreal, things got personal—and ugly.

Gonzales brought up Stevenson’s past, adding in a few more false accusations to boot.

“I know his past. He likes kids and girls,” accused Gonzales “If you’re poor and rob a bank, you can be forgiven. Or even if you kill— if someone has threatened you. But when you rape and beat-up little girls … what kind of guy is that? He’s a piece of shit. You can’t forgive that. It’s an issue that bothers me. But that’s his past, not mine.”

Bold statements coming from someone who doesn’t know the exact facts of Stevenson’s past.

Not that I know said facts myself…

Which is why it’s a slippery slope to make statements like those which were made by Gonzales. Granted, it could be a way of getting inside the head of Stevenson which, for the moment, it appears he may have done. To the credit of Gonzales, he himself does charity work with Natalie’s House, a not-for-profit women’s support group that shelters and aids sexually-abused women. On Saturday, his ring trunks will display the group’s logo. Again, these could be more mind games…especially when Gonzales added “it gets in his head, I know his past.”

It must be noted that Stevenson’s November 1998 arrest was for pimping and assault. Adonis Stevenson was never accused of rape, or sexual assault of any kind.

Adonis himself stated that while he made mistakes in the past, he is not the same person he was.

“I paid my dues to society,” Stevenson said at the presser.

“It has been 14 years. That’s a long time. I’ve never had a criminal record since. I learned a lot while I was in jail. If the wrong people are around you….I was very young. I’m older now. I see the life.”
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any uglier, Stevenson posted this on his Facebook account later in the day.

“Gonzales is a fucking racist and a fucking lier. He called me a stinking n—–. Saturday night Im gonna knock this motherfucker out.”

If that’s the case, and if Gonzales did indeed say that, he should be held accountable for his ignorant racist remarks.

(Note: where is the boxing media today that was up in arms a few days ago over a Floyd Mayweather tweet??? Oh well…I guess it’s only racist if it’s said by a superstar….)

Stevenson, clearly affected by the events of today, elaborated further on his Facebook page:

(Note: Stevenson’s primary language is French. I felt it necessary to not edit grammatical errors based on the fact that the posting he made reflects his feelings, and is not something I’d edit for the sake of perception relating to English speaking readers.)

Jesus “El Martillo” Gonzales, is a strong liar, one of the “Biggest Liar that we’ve seen thus far”.
He picks up a news archive media coverage, mix it with lies, and uses it as a show in public.

I wondered, What Gonzales does his whole days. Searching and browsing the internet endless database to find some kind of precious kryptonite, some kind of weakness about me, to beat me…
Now that he find and sniff my old dirty panties, he find nothing much to say that Now he’ll team up with an association, bla-bla-bla…

Gonzales missed the fact that ME, Adonis Stevenson, represented Canada, when I won the silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia; which was the country’s only medal won in this major competition event for the year 2006 to 2010.
Elizabeth II, Queen of the world highest modern Monarchy, Rewarded me… GYM Promotions Accepted me; and my faithful team of supporters, Believes in me…

Why Gonzales is suddently using an Out of context issue (WHY?), instead of talking about boxing…

I guess he’s worried about what will happend into that ring.
I understand, he’s Afraid to lose; but I believe he needs that money more than everything, enough to do anything…

People do change, from positive to negative and from negative to positive. Everybody knows in what road I’m heading, otherwise I wouldn’t been Loved by my Fans…
Gonzales should focus on boxing, instead of using his mythomaniac skills…
Me, I’ll focus on my Friends, Contacts, Fans and Supporters, I’ll do just what they want; WIN…

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Things have gotten ugly

Things have gotten personal.

Maybe too personal. Let’s just hope it gets settled in the ring on Saturday night.

Boxing Insider’s Hans Olson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @hansolson