Sunday, December 2, 2018

Boxing Challenge; Gvozdyk dethrones Stevenson, Stevenson hospitalized

In Quebec City Canada in front of a Showtime audience that was using the broadcast as a lead-in for the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury PPV, Oleksandr Gvozdyk finally took the WBC light heavyweight title that had been held hostage for so many years in Canada by Adonis Stevenson away from him with a brutal eleventh round knockout that has Stevenson hospitalized in intensive care as of this writing.

I've been a detractor of Stevenson's for years for his long stretches of inactivity and the WBC's constant coddling of his choosing less than world class opponents and the ending of his reign which started with so much promise is welcomed and would be celebrated by many if not for the sad ending which has him in critical condition.

Gvozdyk gave Stevenson the first two rounds, but on my card won all but one after that, although Stevenson did have his occasional moment as he briefly wobbled Gvozdyk in the tenth round.
Gvozdyk also clearly knocked Stevenson down in the third round, but referee Michael Griffin called it a slip as part of a completely awful evening for the officials in Quebec City.

Griffin not only missed the early knockdown, but he should also have stopped the fight in the eleventh earlier than he did as a clearly finished Stevenson was defenseless as he took one final Gvozdyk right hand that sent him tumbling to the floor in obvious distress.
And THEN you have the scorecards which were worse than a cheese sandwich left out in the sun for a week, with one judge even after ten rounds, another 96-94 and a final 98-92 card for STEVENSON?!
I had it 97-93 for Gvozdyk and you see why fighters have to finish opponents off when they can- as despite dominating the bout, Gvozdyk would have entered round twelve (this is Stevenson surviving the 11th hypothetically) even on one card (10-8 11th round) and having no chance on the other.
Gvozdyk was about to be screwed on the cards and he took matters into his own hands by doing his job.

Gvozdyk's win likely takes the PBC out of the light heavyweight picture for now as he takes the WBC title to Top Rank, Artur Beterbiev's IBF is with Matchroom and until the WBO rematch between Elieder Alvarez and Sergey Kovalev and the decision by WBA Dmitry Bivol on his tv platform occurs, we really don't know where the 175 pound division stands.
Gvozdyk is more of a standup boxer than huge puncher, but he stacks up well against any of the other three champions and would make interesting fights as well.

As for Stevenson, best wishes for a full recovery, but even with a full recovery, I would hope to not see him in the ring again.
At 41, he had already become a six round fighter that built a lead and tried to make it home as in his previous fight, a draw against Badou Jack and his never strong chin is obviously getting worse.

I have not seen the PPV card, if and when I do I will post about the results.
In the boxing challenge, I added five points to Ramon Malpica's four to move my lead to 200-179

No comments: