Sulaiman was targeted by questions from inquisitive fans recently as to why Stevenson has not been ordered to fight Eleider Alvarez despite the Colombian-born Canadian clinching the opportunity back in 2015.
As the World Boxing Council were committed to making a fight between Sergey Kovalev and Stevenson a reality during the period of Alvarez’s WBC Silver victory over Ryno Liebenberg three years ago and then Isaac Chilemba in an eliminator in 2015, the process of a mandatory contender took a back seat.
Kovalev was effectively the number one with the WBC despite holding a separate version of the world title, as like the fans, Sulaiman wanted to see the biggest battle in the division come to fruition before it was too late.
This meant Alvarez was forced to wait, and as Sulaiman revealed, agreed to step aside later whilst Stevenson fought the likes of Sakio Bika, Thomas Williams Jr. and rematched Andrzej Fonfara.
As Stevenson ploughed on with his defenses – eight in total – Alvarez has been in the form of his life and recently defeated former world title holders Lucian Bute and Jean Pascal to cement his position.
Assuring that transparency will follow, Sulaiman is in the process of putting together a ruling which should see Alvarez and ‘Superman’ sharing a ring some time before the five-year anniversary of Stevenson’s last mandated bout against Tony Bellew in November 2013.
“We are addressing the Adonis Stevenson matter,” stated Sulaiman.
“It’s not four years (without a mandatory, as suggested) and Sergey Kovalev hurt the process as well. But it’s unacceptable to continue and the WBC is ruling soon
“I explained the Kovalev matter previously, which took time and Alvarez has also stepped aside,” he added.
To put things into perspective on the delayed timeframe invloved, Bellew has since moved up to cruiserweight – fought eight times winning the WBC strap – before then heading further north to heavyweight defeating David Haye.
Phil Jay is Editor of World Boxing News. Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay
