• Super-middleweight

Stevenson: I want winner of Froch-Kessler

ESPN staff
January 3, 2013
Carl Froch's revenge fight with Mikkel Kessler is shaping up for 2013 © Getty Images
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Adonis Stevenson says he is happy to wait until Carl Froch has fought Mikkel Kessler but is demanding the right to take on the winner.

Stevenson, 35, is the mandatory challenger to Froch's IBF super-middleweight title but the Englishman could apply for a waiver to the Canadian's challenge.

If accepted, it would mean Froch would be free to fight WBA champion Kessler without having to vacate his IBF belt. All of which is fine by Stevenson, whose record stands at 19-1, so long as he has confirmation of a crack at either Froch or Kessler afterwards.

"Should Froch, Kessler, the IBF and the WBA all agree - I need confirmation I will face the winner," Stevenson told boxingscene.com.

Any application Froch makes to waive his defence in order to set up a unification bout with Kessler is likely to be accepted by the IBF as such a fight would be one of the highlights of the 2013 calendar.

"Froch can apply for a waiver so he can fight someone else," an IBF spokesperson wrote. "If the waiver is granted he retains the title [and has permission to take another fight]. If the waiver is not granted, and he chooses to fight someone other than Stevenson - he must give up the IBF title."

Froch lost to Kessler in his native Denmark in 2010 but after his five-round stoppage of Lucian Bute in 2012, the Nottingham fighter stands a realistic chance of exacting revenge.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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