By Luke Furman

Promoter Yvon Michel of GYM, who promotes WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (24-1, 20KOs), says Dmitry Sukhotsky (22-2, 16KOs) was selected for his boxer's upcoming return because there wasn't enough time to put together a major event with mandatory challenger Jean Pascal (29-2-1, 17KOs).

"[We picked Sukhotsky] because we are organizing this fight [with Pascal] for next spring. We would not have had enough time to prepare for such a confrontation in 2014. This is a very important fight and we do not do things by halfway," Michel told RDS.

Stevenson-Sukhotsky takes place on December 19th at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec. Pascal takes on tough contender Donovan George (25-4-2, 22KOs) on December 6th at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.