Promoter Yvon Michel brings Showtime Boxing to the Colisee de Quebec with a card headlined by WBC World Light Heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (24-1) defending his title against Dmitry Sukhotsky (22-2) in a scheduled 12 round bout. Right now Stevenson, who was born in Haiti but now calls Quebec his home, is a massive (-2000) favorite over Sukhotsky, who returns at (+1250). Stevenson is making the fourth defense of the belt he won from Chad Dawson in June of 2013, but Sukhotsky is not the opponent people were calling for. Sergey Kovalev and Bernard Hopkins opted to fight each other, and Stevenson seemed to shy away from an all-Canada showdown with Jean Pascal so Sukhotsky fills the bill. Unlike a lot of the Russian fighters out there, Sukhotsky does not come with a huge amateur background, rather he is just a tough guy. This will be his second bid to win a world title, as he lost to Juergen Braehmer in December of 2009. He has 16 stoppages in his 22 wins, but Stevenson is expected to outclass him and avoid the big punches. Another 12 rounder on the card sees Andre Dirrell a heavy favorite (-1700) over Derek Edwards, who returns (+800) in their Super MIddleweight bout. Dirrell still has the stigma hanging over him since he was diagnosed with a brain injury after his fight with Arthur Abraham back in March of 2010 as part of Showtime’s ‘Super 6’ tournament. He took a year and a half off after that fight, then returned to KO Darryl Cunningham impressively in December of 2011. after that fight, he took all of 2012 off and returned to beat Michael Gbenga by UD in February of 2013. Then came another 17 month layoff before fighting in August and again in October of 2014. It is clear that Dirrell is picking up the pace again, and if he is healthy he is one of the best fighters at this weight class. Dirrell is an Olympic Bronze medalist with an extensive amateur background, and he should outclass Edwards. Promoter Yvon Michel has worked with Edwards before, bringing him to Canada back in April of 2011 to face Adonis Stevenson, and he was KO’d in the third round of that bout. The match is considered an eliminator for the IBF title. The card has eight fights if you attend live, however only 2-4 are likely to air on Showtime. Aside from the two fights above, a couple of the other fights on the card may get attention from the books as we get closer to Friday. The third twelve round bout on the card is also an IBF title eliminator in the welterweight division as Ionut Dan Ion (33-2) faces Kevin Bizier (23-1). Ion is a Romanian who calls Canada home, and has fought his whole career in Canada while Bizier is a native of the area who has represented Canada extensively during a decorated amateur career. The two men know each other, as Bizier’s lone loss as a professional came via split decision against Ion in November of 2013. The judges cards had enough variance (117-110, 111-116, 113-114) the first match that literally anything can happen in this one. In a ten round bout with several North American titles at stake, Artur Beterbiev (6-0) takes on Jeff Page Jr (15-0) at Light Heavyweight. Unlike Sukhotsky in the main event, Beterbiwev does bring an extensive amateur background, and he is trying to fast track his career as he is only (6-0) as a pro. In his last outing he made an impact by knocking out veteran Tavoris Cloud in the second round of their bout. Page also has amateur experience, and he has run his record to a perfect (15-0), but expect the Russian to come in favored when a line pops up at the books.
