Adonis Stevenson defends his WBC World light heavyweight title in Quebec City on Saturday night against Cameroon born Australian, Sakio Bika.
Stevenson (25-1-0) won the WBC belt back in 2013 with a first round knockout of Chad Dawson and this will be his fifth defence. One of those defences came in November 2013 against Liverpool’s Tony Bellew in the same arena that tonight’s fight takes place in. Stevenson stopped Bellew in six rounds that night and “Superman” will be hoping for a similar outcome on Saturday. Should Stevenson come through this fight unscathed it appears his next fight will be a unification bout with Sergey Kovalev who holds the IBF, WBA Super and WBO belts. The WBC have ordered that negotiations begin for that fight ahead of a purse offer on the 17th April.
Bika (32-6-3) has fought the majority of his career at middleweight and super middleweight but he does have some experience at light heavyweight. He is 5-0 at that weight but his opponents have been nowhere near the level of Stevenson and this will be a huge step up in class for him. At the lighter weights Bika has been in with some of the best names in the divisions including Andre Ward, Joe Calzaghe, Lucian Bute and Anthony Dirrell. He has lost six times in his career but he has never been stopped and he should prove to be a difficult opponent for Stevenson.
Also on the card is highly rated Russian light heavyweight, Artur Beterbiev who takes on Gabriel Campillo of Spain.
Beterbiev (7-0-0) had an impressive amateur career before turning pro in 2013. He has yet to go beyond four rounds winning all seven of pro fights by stoppage. His first five were against journeymen but the last two saw him stop both Tavaris Cloud and Jeff Page Jr in the second round. He is already ranked by all four governing bodies and a win here could see him increase his ranking with Campillo ranked in the top five by both the WBC and IBF.
Campillo (25-6-1) has won his last three fights after a run of one win in five fights. The most impressive win in that run came against Thomas Williams Jr in August last year. He is a former WBA World champion in the light heavyweight division and has been in with some of the divisions top fighters including Sergey Kovalev who stopped him in three rounds. At thirty-six Campillo is probably past his best but his high ranking makes him a good opponent for Beterbiev who will be strongly favoured to get the win.
Also on the undercard is Kevin Bizier (23-2-0). Bizier's two defeats came against Jo Jo Dan who was stopped last weekend by Kell Brook in Sheffield. Bizier was highly rated and will be hoping to get his career back on track against Fouad El Massoudi (12-4-0).
Unbeaten duo Julian Williams (18-0-1) and Oscar Rivas (15-0-0) are also on the card in fights in the super welterweight and heavyweight divisions respectively. Both will be expected to win and continue on their paths up the rankings.
In total there are ten fights scheduled but the bulk of those in attendance will be there to support Adonis Stevenson in his quest to get the win that should see him take on Kovalev later in the year in what promises to be an explosive encounter.