Adonis Stevenson has another title defense set and this time, he will fulfill his long overdue mandatory challenge.
Stevenson, the WBC’s light heavyweight champion, will fight interim champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk on December 1 at the Videotron Centre in Quebec, Canada. The announcement came from Stevenson's promoter Yvon Michel after a few weeks ago, there had been some confusion as to who really won a purse bid for control of the fight's date, location and promotion.
The 40-year-old Stevenson, who turns 41 on September 22, will be fighting twice in the same calendar year for the first time since 2015, when he defeated Sakio Bika and Tommy Kaperncy to retain his title. Stevenson returns to Quebec City for his first fight at the venue since a fourth-round knockout victory over Thomas Williams Jr. back in 2016.
Gvozdyk will be fighting for his first full world title. Gvozdyk was ordered by the WBC to fight for an interim title in March against Mehdi Amar with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger to the winner of Stevenson’s last defense Badou Jack. Gvozdyk handily beat Amar at Madison Square Garden on ESPN while Stevenson managed to put together a strong last six rounds in order to retain his title with a majority draw.
Although there had been rumors of a rematch between Stevenson and Jack, the WBC was steadfast in having Stevenson fight his mandatory challenger for the first time in years. Stevenson has held the WBC title since knocking out Chad Dawson in 2013 to become the world champion.
