GYM wins purse bid, targets November 3rd for Adonis Stevenson-Oleksandr Gvozdyk

Groupe Yvon Michel has won the purse bid for the ordered bout between WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Adonis Stevenson, whom they promote, and mandatory challenger Oleksandr Gvozdyk. They intend to stage the fight in Canada on November 3rd.

There remains one complication however. Tom Brown originally turned in a $3,102,000 bid, beating GYM by just over a million dollars, but rescinded it just thirty minutes after winning. The Ring states that the WBC will rule on that “by Thursday,” though the confusion doesn’t seem to be slowing Michel down at all.

Stevenson (29-1-1, 24 KO), despite Big Boss Sulaiman’s gaslighting, has not faced a mandatory since stomping Tony Bellew in 2013. He’ll be 41 by the time he steps into the ring again and survived Badou Jack by the skin of his teeth last time out, so he may not be wearing the gloves much longer.

Gvozdyk (15-0, 12 KO) went the distance for the first time in nine fights last March, taking a decision over Mehdi Amar to win the wholly superfluous interim title. He’d previously stopped Tommy Karpency, Isaac Chilemba, Yunieski Gonzalez, and Craig Baker.

I’ve still got an eyebrow firmly raised in suspicion that this fight actually happens. It will remain there until these two are shirtless, facing each other, and being instructed not to punch each other in the junk.