Adonis Stevenson v Tony Bellew

When a fighter talks the talk they have to do something to back it up. Unfortunately Englishman Tony Bellew (20-2-1, 12) his mouth wrote cheques he simply couldn't cash as he went over to Canada, talked the talk and was then stopped by the hard hitting Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 20).

The fight started slowly, this was expected with both men showing genuine respect to the others power. Unfortunately this lead to one of the least interesting rounds of the year as Bellew back-tracked like he was doing the 100m backwards running and Stevenson failed to find his range.

Thankfully, for the sake of entertainment, round 2 saw Stevenson picking up the pace and easily dominating the round as Bellew began to look like a genuinely terrified fighter. The confidence had been completely sapped from Bellew. What didn't help the challenger was the fact Stevenson was starting to connect with his left hand on a semi-regular basis.

By the end of round 3 it seemed like the end was imminent as Stevenson began to land left hands on a regular basis. Although Bellew was now throwing shots in return it seemed like he was becoming a desperate man rather than a fighter attempting to fight back.

Having clearly fallen 3-0 down Bellew finally let his hands go like a fighter in round 4 as the two men traded shots. This saw both men looking hurt with Stevenson actually ending up on the canvas, albeit from a push, and it appeared as if we were in for a war. Unfortunately however the excitement lasted just for the round as Bellew got back on his bike in round 5 and continued to use his legs more than his hands.

The negativity of Bellew saw Stevenson taunting him, dropping his hands and calling for him to fight. Unfortunately with neither man landing much of note in the fifth round, it was poor.

The poor round 5 was thankfully followed by Stevenson exploding in to action and dropping Bellew part way through the round. Bellew showed his heart by getting up, though it appeared more like he wasn't thinking straight and soon afterwards he tagged again and his legs stiffened. This gave Stevenson a chance to unload and he did as the referee was forced to step in for the safety of Bellew.

Considering the mouth of Bellew this was really disappointing. There is no harm in losing, but Bellew hardly out up a fight before being stopped. Very disappointing considering the pre-fight comments made by the Englishman.

For Stevenson this would have felt good. He was forced to listen to various comments from Bellew and he shut up Bellew's mouth, he made Bellew look like a chicken and more tellingly he further cemented his case as the best Light Heavyweight on the planet.

The logical match up at 175 right now is Stevenson v Kovalev, come on HBO put up the money for the fight we all want!

Sergey Kovalev v Ismayl Sillakh

In the first of two world title fights in Canada this evening Russian Sergey Kovalev (23-0-1, 21) destroyed Ukrainian challenger Ismayl Sillakh (21-2, 17) and made his first title defense.

The first round was a genuinely good one for Sillakh who moved well, established his jab and actually made it look like he had a chance as he avoided Kovalev's power whilst landing at will.

What Sillakh did in the opening round was quickly forgotten as Kovalev knocked him down in the opening seconds of round 2. Sillakh got to his feet at the count of "3" though the challenger looked like he was gone, seconds late her was gone as a huge right hand sent an unconscious Sillakh hard to the canvas. This time Sillakh had no chance and everyone knew that this was "ovah".

We'd hope that Kovalev will be fighting the winner of the upcoming Stevenson/Bellew fight in early 2014, though other than than it's possibly only Bernard Hopkins that would leave us with an interesting contest. For Sillakh this is likely to be his only title fight for a while, unfortunate for him it's come against a man who is destroying fighters. A loss to Kovalev isn't embarrassing but it could well be the sort of thing that a fighter never really recovers from.

Adonis Stevenson v Tavoris Cloud

If not often that a fighter claims a "Lineal" title by opening round KO and leaves us with a lot of questions. That, however, is what Adonis Stevenson (22-1, 19) did earlier this year when he landed a single money maker on to the then defending world champion Chad Dawson.

All we really learned from the Stevenson/Dawson fight was that Stevenson's power was legitimate and that it carried up from Super Middleweight, where he had been seen as a promising contender, to Light Heavyweight.

Thankfully Stevenson did answer a number of questions this past Saturday as he defeated former IBF Light Heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (24-2, 19) in what can only be described as an impressive performance.

Against Dawson all it took was a single shot to shock the boxing public. This time around Stevenson knew he was fighting a tougher man, both mentally and physically and that one shot, even with his power, was never going to do the job. Instead Stevenson took control with unexpectedly sharp boxing, using his reach and speed to pepper the apprehensive looking Cloud from range with stiff, hurtful shots and beautiful counters.

Cloud, for his part, played the role of a tough but over-matched fighter. The energy and work rate that he once made his name on had vanished, the confidence he had had just a few fights back had dissipated and it seemed that as long as he wasn't getting to hurt by any single shot he was happy to let Stevenson do as he wished.

Unfortunately when you're fighting a guy like Stevenson punches will do damage. Not every shot needs to be concussive to do damage and due to the weight of the shots and the accumulation of them Cloud's face slowly turned from unmarked to cut showing the effects of the shots. It was the cuts, and the sheer fact that Stevenson turned out to be a talented boxer as well as a big banger, that saw Cloud retiring on his stool at the end of the 7th round.

For Cloud this really could be the end. He has now been out boxed by Gabriel Campillo, Bernard Hopkins and Adonis Stevenson and looks like another fighter who has been effectively "found out". On the other hand Stevenson has now proven himself to be a genuinely talented boxer with serious bang.

I now expect that Stevenson will face mandatory Tony Bellew, in what will likely be a painful nights work for Bellew, then their will be serious talk about a WBC/WBO unification bout with Sergey Kovalev who has also proven to have dynamite fists and under-rated boxing ability.