We have a new WBC light heavyweight titleholder.
Five years, ten fights. Montreal based light heavyweight Adonis Stevenson (29-2-1, 25 KOs) is the longest reigning belt holder in the sport no longer. Ukrainian rising star Oleksandr Gvozdyk (16-0, 13 KOs) saw to that tonight in Quebec City under the tutelage of new trainer and boxing personality Teddy Atlas.
Superman Stevenson started the fight pretty well in the first round despite his eventual demise. He was taking a nice step to draw Gvozdyk into his signature left and the Ukrainian was biting. He never landed the one big one he needed, however, and Oleksandr slowly took over starting in round three first by dropping Adonis with a clean, quick right counter. Though the moment was mistakenly ruled a slip, from then on Gvozdyk was largely in control.
It was never a rout by any means though. Adonis was there firing back the whole way. He was just having trouble maintaining activity and dealing with the now signature style of footwork that comes out of the elite Ukrainian amateur system. Gvozdyk was in trouble early in round ten though as a big straight left sent him crashing into the ropes. Again the referee missed a knockdown call here, but at least this one evened out the first mistake mathematically.
The math did not matter in the end. One round later Oleksandr Gvozdyk pushed forward aggressively and battered Adonis Stevenson into the ropes. The longtime titleholder ate several vicious shots before one final right hand crumpled him in the corner. He briefly was out, but came to pretty quickly.
Oleksandr Gvozdyk is your new WBC light heavyweight titleholder. Not only is this a win for him and Teddy Atlas, but a for Top Rank and ESPN well as the new titleholder will now bring his belt back to their ring and airwaves.
