WBC champ Stevenson laughs off Kovalev challenge as he prepares for Fonfara

MONTREAL – Adonis Stevenson was supposed to be talking about his World Boxing Council title defence against Andrzej Fonfara, but most of the conversation was about Sergey Kovalev.

The hard-hitting Kovalev and his promoter Kathy Duva have taken to social media to accuse Stevenson of ducking a showdown, which only made the Montreal fighter smile.

“I find that funny,” Stevenson (23-1) said at a news conference Thursday. “Kovalev is using my name to try to boost his popularity because at the international level, his name doesn’t sell.”

Promoter Yvon Michel said it was money that prevented the match-up of the two top power punchers in the light heavyweight division.

Both fought on a card Nov. 30 in Quebec City, with Stevenson mauling Tony Bellew over six rounds and Kovalev flooring Ismayl Sillahk in the second.

It was assumed that Stevenson and Kovalev would then face one another, but it didn’t happen.

Instead, Kovalev (23-0-1) will fight Cedric Agnew (26-0) on Saturday night in Atlantic City, while Stevenson takes on Fonfara (25-2) on May 24 at the Bell Centre.

“When I became world champion (in June, 2013), right away I challenged Bernard Hopkins and Carl Froch,” said Stevenson, naming two of the top names in the light heavyweight and super-middleweight divisions. “Kovalev only won a title after that (in August).

“When they starting asking me to fight him, I said there was no problem as long as the money was there. The money wasn’t there.”

Michel said the Kovalev bout could still be arranged for the autumn or in 2015.

He said an agreement was reached with the Kovalev camp for a 60-40 split of television revenue and a 70-30 split of the gate (both in Stevenson’s favour), but Stevenson’s side felt the offer made by the HBO specialty channel wasn’t enough.

The negotiations ended when rival network Showtime came up with a higher bid for a bout pitting Stevenson against Fonfara.

“Our first choice was to stay with HBO,” Michel said of the channel that broadcast Stevenson’s recent bouts. “We only went to Showtime after rejecting the HBO offer.”

Now Stevenson hopes to get a long-term deal with Showtime.

The 36-year-old will likely be the favourite against 26-year-old Fonfara, a Warsaw native who fights out of Chicago. But it should be an entertaining bout between two knockout punchers.

Fonfara’s promoter Leon Margules said he opted to face Stevenson for the WBC belt even though he could have got a decent fight in either the IBF or the WBO, which both have him ranked as the top contender.

“I think Stevenson is the best in our division and I want to fight the best,” said Fonfara.

Stevenson, the lone Canadian boxer with a world title, also lauded fellow Montreal fighter Lucian Bute’s decision to split with long-time trainer Stephan Larouche in a bid to resuscitate his career. Bute is the former IBF super-middleweight champ.

It was dropping his coach and jumping to Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward at Detroit’s famous Kronk Gym that turned Stevenson into a champion.

“It’s important to see what else is out there and maybe add some new tools to your belt,” said Stevenson. “I think the best thing for him would be to change his training methods.

“A change of air is good. I learned a lot of things on the technical side that I didn’t know. Mostly boxing-specific training techniques.”

He said that since Larouche knows Bute better than anyone, he may only need to bring in a top coach — he mentioned star trainer Freddie Roach as an example — as a consultant.

If he beats Fonfara, Stevenson’s next opponents could be Kovalev and 49-year-old Hopkins, but he said he has no objection to an eventual showdown with former WBC champ Jean Pascal.

Pascal lost the title to Hopkins, who gave it up to Chad Dawson, who was knocked cold in only 74 seconds by Stevenson.

Hopkins (54-6-2) is fighting Beibut Shumenov (14-1) of Kazakhstan on April 19 in Washington, D.C.