RACIAL SUPREMACY ALWAYS PART OF BOXING
Stevenson_Kovalov Split Fans!
San Francisco, CA– Going into this offering, I realize this will piss some people off. But like my first mentor, the incomparable Anthony Peligrino, my high school journalism teacher told me when I wanted to “out” our Principal for two DUI’s in six months on the cover of the South San Francisco Warrior, of which I was Editor in Chief, “Give it some thought, prepare well and go with your heart,” so said the great one.
STEVENSON-KOVALOV BRING OUT “RACE CARD”
That being said, I can’t help but think the Sergey Kovalov-Adonis Stevenson potential match is a fight that is drawn along racial lines. This is Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney-like divisions between ethnic groups. And while I know that was 1982, some 32 years ago, you have never seen a country divided along lines of color over a sporting event as they were for a fight that was even billed in some areas as “Cooney-Holmes.” In a show of disrespect, ring announcer Chuck Hull introduced Cooney second, all the while Larry was reigning and unbeaten champion.
PEOPLE WANT TO IGNORE RACE FACTOR
Whether you want to admit it or not, a huge part of the boxing game is race. Many Italian fans felt and still feel that Rocky Marciano, the only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated, could have licked any man in the house. The same can be said for John L. Sullivan, a white man who held the title when the transformation was made to glove fighters in order to protect the hands. With the recent run of Wladimir & Vitali Klitschko, black heavyweights have been turned back time and again unlike anything since Marciano and the 1950s.
NO SHAME AS FANS SPLIT DOWN MIDDLE
Boxing has starved for a “race” fight for years and the Sergey Kovalov-Adonis Stevenson has the intangibles to split the theater. Cocky, brash, the Superman of boxing vs. Crusher Kovalov, who unlike Cooney is not afraid to speak his mind as he said post fight recently, “Adonis Stevenson is a piece of s*it.”
STEVENSON NIXED KOVALOV FIGHT..PERIOD
I really don’t want to hear the BS here. Look, promoter Kathy Duva says she has a contract signed by Stevenson agreeing to fight Kovalov. Even Stevenson was talking Stevenson-Kovalov until the Russian decimated Ismayl Sillah with a KO 2. In the Montreal main event, Stevenson too looked good in stopping ex-heavyweight Tony Bellew inside of eight stanzas. With apparently signed contracts, Stevenson instead bolts to Showtime to face the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Carl Froch and Lucian Bute.
STEVENSON HAS GAME PLAN SANS KOVALOV
Nobody believes that crap! Stevenson quite frankly opted (punked) out of fighting Kovalov and will instead face the not so ferocious Andrzej Fonfara (25-2, 15 KOs) of Chicago by way of Poland on May 24.
KNOCKS AGAINST KOVALOV
Sergey hasn’t fought anybody or he’s a plodder, relies too much on his power, is slow, all of which could not be further from the truth. He was an accomplished amateur fighter and the hardest hitter in the light heavyweight division by far.
KNOCKS AGAINST STEVENSON
Too many inherent flaws in his game. The low right jab hand, even if he were to work on it for a year, once Adonis got into the hear of battle, he’d go back to his old stance, one that I feel Kovalov can exploit and snag the knockout.
DON’T THINK STEVENSON CAN ADJUST
At the end of the day, I can’t see Adonis getting his hand raised here. He’s older, been knocked out once already, has a porous defense, all of this means Kovalov has a lot of advantages going into what looks like a beat down of the last fighter wearing the famed Kronk Gym colors.
Pedro Fernandez