Andrzej Fonfara eyedAdonis Stevenson’s title belt during Wednesday’s final press conference at Casino de Montreal, the look of a man eager and confident heading into the biggest fight of his boxing career. Fonfara will challenge Stevenson this Saturday, May 24, live on Showtime from Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
The 26-year-old Fonfara (25-2-0, 15 KOs), of Chicago by way of Warsaw, Poland, is the No. 3 contender in the WBC, the No. 1 contender in the IBF, and holds victories over three former world champions in his last five fights. Fonfara has won 15 fights in a row, 12 by knockout, and has never been defeated as a light heavyweight.
ADONIS STEVENSON:
“He’s confident. I’m confident. But I have the power to end this fight quickly.
“I’m in tremendous shape. I took a rest and my body is recovered. Now, I’m ready to get back in the ring and prove why I’m the best light heavyweight in the world.
“I’m used to fighting taller guys with long range. That won’t be a problem for me. We’ll use my speed and power to (to negate that).
“It’s a tough challenge. “I’m not overlooking him because I know he is very dangerous. I know he’ll be ready for me.
“My trainer trained me for the knockout, so I’m looking for it. I know he is a good fighter and he’s the best contender, so you have to watch Saturday night. It’s going to be a good fight, exciting.”
Regarding verbal exchange during the ‘face off’…
“I asked him if he liked the belt…And I told him the belt is going to stay in Montreal.”
ANDRZEJ FONFARA:
“Everyone wants to fight for the biggest trophy and against the best fighters. He’s the best world champ in this division and Saturday is my chance to prove that I am the best.
“This is not my first time as an underdog. I’ve proved people wrong before and I’ll do it again.
“Everyone will see what I bring to the ring. I can handle his power. That doesn’t worry me.
“Everything is at stake. I have the chance to make history, so I have plenty of motivation for this fight.
“He has power, but I can knock him out, too. A knockout would be the best offense for me. With our styles, it will be a good, exciting fight.
“You’ll see on Saturday why I’m the better fighter. This is the right time for me.”
On Stevenson’s loss against Darnell Boone…
“I’ve got a good punch with both hands. He’s gotten knocked out before. It proves he goes down too. He’s not Superman like he thinks he is. He went down and he lost the fight.”
JAVAN “SUGAR” HILL (STEVENSON TRAINER):
“I know the Fonfara camp very well. Sam (Colonna) and I go back to the amateur days. I know he trains fighters as well as I do. This is another level we have to fight on, only this is a world championship level. We can’t wait to test our skills against each other.
“Everything is perfect. The training camp went well. Adonis is ready – his main focus is fighting Fonfara and the other objective is to get a knockout. I’m looking for a knockout from Adonis Stevenson and I hope everyone else is.”
SAM COLONNA (FONFARA TRAINER):
“This is a dream come true for him. He’s been working his whole life to come to this level and now he’s here.
“Andrzej has always been the underdog, but he’s always come out on top. Come the 24th we’re going to surprise some people.
“We started out sparring in Chicago and moved to Big Bear. We had some great sparring partners, we couldn’t pick better guys.”
The 36-year-old Stevenson (23-1-0, 20 KOs) laid his claim as the world’s No. 1 light heavyweight with an exceptional 2013 campaign that included knockout victories over Chad Dawson and Tavoris Cloud, earning him The Ring Magazine award for “Fighter of the Year.”
In co-featured fights this Saturday, May 24, Montreal middleweight David Lemieux (31-2, 29 KOs) meets Fernando Guerrero (26-2, 19 KOs) of Salisbury, Md., in a 10-round bout, and Houston’s unbeaten rising star Jermell Charlo (23-0, 11 KOs) takes on Japan’s Charlie Ohta (24-1-1, 16 KOs) in a 12-round junior middleweight match.
On SHO EXTREMEfrom the Bell Centre, Julian “J-Rock” Williams (15-0-1, 9 KOs), of Philadelphia, faces Michael Medina (26-4-2, 19 KOs), of Modesto, Calif., in a 10-round junior middleweight scrap and world-ranked Eleider Alvarez (14-0, 8 KOs), of Montreal by way Colombia, collides with Alexander Johnson (15-1, 6 KOs), of Washington, D.C., in a 10-round light heavyweight bout.
