Alvarez took the money instead of enforcing his mandatory status so that's a two way street. They both have the same promoter and I don't see why the promoter would want to match them up against each other before Alvarez made a name for himself. That would just be stupid.
Yet you just posted this in a thread earlier. You have no shame "anyone decent can beat kovalev ward beating him was nothing"
This. Alvarez took the easy step aside money rather than facing Adonis, who always had suspect stamina, but is a complete beast for the first 4-5 rounds. In hindsight Alvarez made the right decision, since I think Adonis would've jumped on him early and knocked him out. Now Alvarez has a belt and can make some money with a unification bout or make some money defending his belt on a regular basis.
Stevenson never had any stamina issues until Jack. And even then, while looking very tired, he still found the strenght to finish strong.
I'd never seen Eleider Alvarez till the Kovalev fight. Stevenson obviously ducked him cause he saw him as a threat The Chickenson nickname is bang on.