Sakio Bika got a taste of what Adonis Stevenson can do on April 4 at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City. Now it’s Tommy Karpency’s turn to tug on Superman's cape.
Adonis Stevenson will look to make Tommy Karpency his latest victim on September 11 in Toronto.
Stevenson and Karpency are set to throw down September 11 at Toronto’s Ricoh Coliseum (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET/PT) in a 175-pound title bout.
Karpency (25-4-1, 14 KOs) is coming off an eight-round unanimous decision over Rayco Saunders on May 16 at the Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington, Pennsylvania. Karpency fights out of his native Adah, Pennsylvania.
Adonis Stevenson (26-1, 21 KOs), meanwhile, handily won a 12-round decision over Bika in front of a hometown crowd to defend his world title.
Like Stevenson, Karpency, 29, is a southpaw. The last fellow lefty Stevenson took on was Chad Dawson, whom Stevenson destroyed with a first-round knockout in June 2013.
Dawson is an opponent they have in common, with Karpency pulling out a 10-round split decision at Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut in October. They’ve also both fought Andrzej Fonfara, with Stevenson winning a unanimous decision in May 2014, while Karpency was stopped in the seventh round in November 2012.
In the co-main event, 147-pound shooting star Errol Spence Jr. (17-0, 14 KOs) is back in action against veteran contender Chris "The Heat" van Heerden (23-1-1, 12 KOs) of South Africa. In his last fight, Spence gained a third-round stoppage of Phil Lo Greco in Las Vegas on June 20. The quick result was nothing new: Only three of Spence's 17 fights have gone past four rounds.
Heavyweights Dillon Carman (8-2, 7 KOs) and Donovan “Razor” Ruddock (40-5-1, 30 KOs) round out the card. Carman is the current Canadian heavyweight champion, while Ruddock, of Weston, Ontario, is still going strong at age 51 after doing battle with the likes of Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis in the early ’90s. Ruddock, whose pro debut was in 1982, returned to the ring in March after a 14-year absence.
