TORONTO – Nicknamed “Superman” for his freakish punching power, Montreal native Adonis Stevenson may have to change his nickname to “Captain Canuck” for what he’s trying to do for Canadian boxing.
Stevenson squared off against talented Swedish fighter Badou Jack for the Canadian’s WBC and lineal light-heavyweight titles Saturday night at Air Canada Centre in a fight-of-the-year candidate that ended in a devastatingly disappointing majority draw decision.
As a result, Stevenson ended up retaining his coveted belts and, most excitingly, immediate discussion of a rematch between the two was put on the table from all parties involved.
Even better for Canadian boxing fans, if Stevenson-Jack II is going to go down, it will happen in the Great White North because Stevenson demands it.
“I kept the title and the title’s gonna stay in Canada,” Stevenson said after the fight. “Anybody that wants to fight me has to come to Canada. If I don’t have the title I’m gonna come to you, that’s not a problem. But now I’ve got the title so anybody that wants to fight me has to come to Canada. I’ll promote Canada.”
A strong statement, but not without cause. Over the course of his 31-fight professional career, Stevenson has only fought outside of Canada twice and hasn’t done so in nearly seven years. It’s an odd move for a world champion boxer like Stevenson but it has set a standard that has never really been seen from great Canadian prizefighters of the past.
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Lennox Lewis more closely affiliated himself with his British heritage despite representing the red and white as an amateur and Arturo Gatti fought just once out of his 49-fight career in Canada. It’s a much different era now and Stevenson’s promoter, Yvon Michel, likes keeping his fighters within the country, but it does appear the southpaw – who had Canadian boxing icon George Chuvalo walk out to the ring with him – genuinely wants to be the one leading the way for Canada’s boxing future.
“How many big fights are there in Canada,” Stevenson asked. “It’s very important to promote boxing in Canada for the young kids and for the business, too. …
“I’ve heard since 1980 there hasn’t been a big fight like that here in Toronto, so I brought that fight here to Toronto. It’s good for the fans, it’s good for the people.”
There’s irony in Stevenson leading the future of Canadian boxing as, coming into Saturday’s bout, there were discussions about how long his own career will last.
At 40 years old, Stevenson’s athletic abilities are likely on the decline, something Floyd Mayweather Jr., the retired, undefeated five-division world champion and Jack’s promoter, made note of when speaking about Stevenson.
“When you’re young, when you’re 19, 20, 21, you’re agile, you’re fast, everything you see you can do,” said Mayweather. “Once you get to being 38, 40, 41, it’s not the same as when you were young. You see certain things but you’re not able to do them. You’re not able to do those things as effective as you were able to do as when you were younger.”
A point well taken, but you can also argue that there’s not as much wear and tear on Stevenson as other professional fighters because he came to the game so late.
Making his professional debut at age 29, Stevenson came to boxing late because of circumstances with his past. Haitian born, he moved to Montreal with his family when he was seven but was out living on the streets when he was 14, falling into a violent, criminal lifestyle that eventually led to him serving prison time for 18 months while in his early 20s.
After leaving prison it would be understandable to be angry and perhaps relapse to his old ways, but Stevenson made a vow to never return to that cage and found refuge in boxing as a means to turn his life around and make good on his personal oath.
He won as an amateur the Canadian national title twice in 2005 and 2006 and represented Canada in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, winning a silver medal as a middleweight before making his pro debut later that year, setting into motion what has turned out to be a fabulous career.
This, perhaps, is where that loyalty and patriotism come from. Canadian boxing offered Stevenson a means to better himself, and now it’s his turn to pay it all back.
When asked about the possible Jack rematch and the location of it, Mayweather joked that he doesn’t even believe Stevenson can leave the country.
Mayweather’s probably not the right person to make light of other peoples’ pasts, and besides, when it comes Stevenson-Jack II, the line has already been drawn in the sand. As long as Stevenson remains at the top, all challengers have no choice but to seek him in his kingdom of the north.