2016, 4 round FOTY: Adonis Stevenson Vs Thomas Williams, Jr.

Put That Work In!!!

That's exactly what Stevenson and Williams Jr. did in their July 29th bout for the LHW Title.

Both the Linear Champion, Stevenson, and the challenger, Williams Jr., both put in some serious work, compressing 12 rounds of boxing into 4 high octane rounds, to make the 4 round fight the most entertaining title fight of 2016.
Offence, defence, ring movement, jabs, uppercuts, left/right hooks, combinations, and extreme chin-checking was dished out by challenger and Linear champion, with both displaying the highest levels of pure heart, worthy of what you expect from a boxer.

Williams, coming off of his spectaular upset KO of Edwin Rodriquez came into this fight to win, at all costs.
I hadn't paid attention to Williams prior to his KO win over Rodriquez, but after showing the skill, heart and determination he displayed against the undisputed, best LHW champion in the division, and very likely the hardest hitting boxer in the sport, besides Deontay Wilder, Adonis "Superman" Stevenson, WIlliams showed that he truly belongs at the top tier of the sport.
I was impressed with how Williams came forward in rounds 1 and 2, taking the fight to the champion using good jabs, body shots, and combinations to aggressive pursue the champ.

I was surprised as I watched Williams technique, in how similar is forward offence style is to another LHW champion, Sergey Kovalev. Williams uses a good jab like Kovalev, although Kovalev's is slightly better. When Williams gets in range, the combinations he throws are also very similar to the combinations you could expect from Kovalev. Williams also showed a Kovalev level of accuracy by accurately landing a greater than Kovalev variety of punches on Stevenson.
Stevenson showed that he has a great chin by taking many sharp and accurate, powerful punches from Williams without ever showing signs of being hurt.

AFter watching this fight, I can't help but believe that Stevenson-Kovalev would look very much like this fight.
Stevenson is larger and stronger than any other LHW that Kovalev has ever faced. As shown in the Chilimba fight, Kovalev is very hittable and has some trouble with boxers. Chilimba, IMO, is not as fast offensively as Stevenson, and does not possess the one-punch destructive power of Stevenson either. To be fair, Kovalev hasn't shown the sheer brutal punching power of Stevenson either. The body punching Stevenson landed on Williams in rounds 3 and 4 would stop any top ranked opponent and Stevenson's left hand is all he has, but his left hand is unstoppable, and all he needs.

I expect Stevenson Vs Alvarez to be just as short, ending in yet another brutal KO win for Stevenson.

Stevenson Vs Williams shows that Stevenson is the best LHW in the world, and that all the other LHWs in the division, Kovalev, Ward, Alvarez, have a very tall task in defeating this one armed Superman.

 

Thanks, friend.

 

WORK!

 

FOTY, like you'll never see in the UK.

Peace!