Photo by Action Images/Peter Cziborra
Current WBC and Ring Light Heavyweight Champion Adonis “Superman” Stevenson recently signed with super adviser, Al Haymon.
This move will certainly cause major concerns to HBO, whose recent history with Haymon has not been a good one.
The last Haymon advised fighter to appear on the network was Edwin Rodriguez, who lost a lopsided decision to Andre Ward last November.
It has been well documented that HBO has drawn the line and made a decision to not broadcast any Golden Boy Promotions fight cards and it’s also well known that the biggest names on Golden Boy’s roster work with Haymon.
Some of those fighters include Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Danny Garcia, Andre Berto, Devon Alexander, Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin, Adrien Broner, Erislandy Lara and Marcos Maidana.
With so many Haymon fighters already on board with Showtime, it would only make sense for Stevenson to make the move as well.
With Showtime, Stevenson can make more money and have more freedom regarding who he fights. And evidenced by his Twitter status announcing his merger with Haymon, it’s obvious that he is looking for big money.
With Al Haymon we going straight to the Bank!!!! http://t.co/5cuZoWcBMI
— Adonis Stevenson (@AdonisSuperman) February 18, 2014
Even though Showtime is Haymon’s playground, there are two big fights that could happen for Stevenson if he stayed with HBO—one being against Ring Super Middleweight Champ Andre Ward and the other against WBO Light Heavyweight Champ Sergey Kovalev—and both fights would be huge in Montreal.
But money talks and if HBO can’t or won’t give what Haymon demands, then it is really easy to see “Superman” going over to the welcoming arms of Showtime and unifying the division by facing the ageless wonder and current IBF champion, Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins.
Photo by Naoki Fukada
According to Dan Rafael of ESPN, Stevenson is supposed to be back on HBO in May, which would set up a Fall showdown with Kovalev.
But, since that hasn’t officially been announced, things could change.
If he moved to Showtime, Stevenson would also have the option to face a less dangerous foe in WBA champion, Beibut Shumenov.
Stevenson would likely be favored against Hopkins and Shumenov and could push to have both of those fights made in Canada.
Hopkins has fought in Canada before and given the fact that Shumenov does not have a big name yet, he would certainly agree to fight Stevenson anywhere for a substantial payday and a crack at the legitimate Light Heavyweight crown.
If HBO doesn’t want to lose one of its biggest stars, they will need to dig into the bank account and pay big money to keep Stevenson and Haymon happy.
Who knows what the outcome will be, but the writing is certainly on the wall. Money talks in the boxing game and with Haymon on Stevenson’s side, Showtime seems to be just around the corner.
Header photo by Action Images/Peter Cziborra
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