by Johnny Walker and Hans Olson
Tonight, Boxing Insider will be providing coverage of the Stevenson-Sukhotsky card from Ouebec-City in Quebec.
Tonight, Hans Olson also rejoins the BI ringside crew to provide his expert commentary on a scene he knows very well.
PRE-CARD CHATTER FROM HANS “THE MAN” OLSON
Hans
1. I am pumped for my man Jo Jo Dan vs. my other guy Kevin Bizier
2.I have to say, I’m pulling a little more for Jo Jo, Totally pumped as I covered and followed/interviewed/talked to so many times. Such a hard working kid…I hope he doesn’t get fucked over in Quebec City (which is Bizier’s hometown…he’s from Saint Emile).
But I really like an respect Kevin too. Funny though, whenever I talked to Kevin it had to be through a translator because my French wasn’t so good 2 years ago, and Kevin doesn’t speak English. Jo Jo has really good English…the Romanian learned English as a second language and when they came to Quebec, many of them moved to English communities. Kind of strange that Bute was taken to so well by the Francophones….probably because Bute when the route of learning French before English…smart move on his part in that province.
Okay…enough of my professorial language talk hahaha…
Anyway, Dan/Bizier 1 was an underrated scrap last year. It should be good again…
My man Artur Beterbiev should DESTROY that American kid tonight. But Beterbiev is just a joy to watch.
Andre Dirrell (23-1, 16 KOs) will face Derek Edwards (27-3-1, 14 KOs), of Las Vegas, in a title elimination fight that will move the winner a step closer to a mandatory shot at titleholder Carl Froch.
Dirrell (23-1, 16 KOs) is kinda meh for me. He should stop Edwards…Stevenson knocked him out on the first card I ever covered in Quebec… it was on the undercard of Lemieux/Rubio almost 4 years ago. How time flies!
Ok Hans, we’re now up with 10 rounds NADBA IBO Jeff “Page” Junior INF, 171 1/4 pounds, vs Artur Beterbiev.
Surprise!
Page puts Bieterbiev down from a bang on the ear.
A miffed Bieterbiev puts Page to the mat early far more definitively in second round, the winner at 2:21 of round two.
Hans Olson: “A great win by Beterbiev…very much like Kovalev/Capparello, with the flash knockdown early…that dude (Beterbiev) has so much power, it’s scary.”
Now we’re in round one of Derek Edwards versus Andre Dirrell, who has a strong amateur background.
Brother Anthony: Dirrell posesses “good foot control, good balance.” Andre Dirrell stays southpaw for entire fight.
By round five, Dirrell cruising along, making things uncomfortable for Edwards. Big left hand uppercut working for Dirrell.
“Dirrell is so skilled,” says Olson.
“One reason some weren’t overly excited about this superiority from Wladimir Klitschko to Floyd Mayweather Jr.: fighters are expected [and now nagged by the cyber-mobs on social media] that every fight must be perfect. And end early, as early as possible. This goes in even his most recent fights–when Dirrell hasn’t been as active against top opponents the way his skill set demands he should be (with Andre “Son of God” Ward so inactive, Olson thinks the Dirrell brothers are far and away the best Americans at 168 pounds).
Olson: “It’s hard not to like the Dirrells. Both are so talented and a great asset to the sport. Hey, if Carl Froch can’t make a fight with Chavez in Vegas…how about a British Invasion vs. the Dirrells? Maybe Groves vs. Anthony Dirrell…and Froch vs. Andre!
“Jo Jo Dan and Bizier next…tremendous fight between two tremendous fighters. They each also have great corners…Bizier has Ramsay, Russ Anber and co… and Dan has Pierre Bouchard and team. Quebec’s finest!
Alas, great crews weren’t enough to save Bizier camp: the judges scored this one. Bizier dropped Dan in round seven, and Dan (34-2, 18 KOs) came away with 115-112, 114-113 scores on two judges’ cards, while Bizier was up 114-113 on the third card. It was the second time Dan has defeated hard-luck Bizier.
In the main event, it took Adonis “Superman” Stevenson (25-1, 21 KOs) five rounds to hunt down his challenger Dmitry “The Hunter” Sukhotskiy.
Displaying none of the ring rust or lack of conditioning that plagued him last time out against Poland’s Michael Fonfara, Stevenson pushed Sukhotskiy around and down in the second round (unjustly ruled a knockdown), but then deposited the Russian rudely on his rump three separate times to bring an end to the evening’s festivities. The first stoppage of Sukhotskiy’s career came at 2:24 of round five. Superman had dusted off his cape.
Plenty of nasty people, many of whom live in glass houses, have gotten their digs in at Stevenson as Kovalev has risen the ranks, but as he showed last night, when he is really on, Stevenson is an awesome proposition in the ring. With Jean Pascal and Kovalev due to get it on early next year, Stevenson will be sitting back calmly, ready to take on the tattered and torn winner.
As Hans Olson put it, Stevenson showed up “with a devastating performance, further cementing his position as the true lineal heavyweight champion. In a division with fantastic fighters like Pascal, Kovalev, Alvarez, Beterbiev and others on the horizon, you gotta love the potential matchups for next year.
“Adonis has the most crushing one-punch-power in the division, and it’s going to be hard for anyone to get through him if those shots land,” Olson continued.
“A great way to end what was otherwise a frustrating year for Adonis, who has received undue and unwarranted negative criticism ad nasueum.
“Here’s wishing a great 2015 to the champ, Adonis “Superman” Stevenson!”
