By Jake Donovan

Adonis Stevenson looks to salvage what has been a horrific follow-up to his 2013 Fighter of the Year campaign with his upcoming defense of the World light heavyweight championship. The southpaw knockout artist faces Dmitry Sukhotsky in a SHOWTIME-televised headliner Friday evening at Colisée de Quebec in Quebec City, Canada.

Both fighters easily made weight for the main event of a televised quadruple header. 

Stevenson (24-1, 20KOs) tipped the scales at 174.6 lb. for the fourth defense of the light heavyweight crown he captured more than 18 months ago. The bout is his second straight on SHOWTIME and with Al Haymon, though both moves resulted in leaving fights on the table with light heavyweight peers Sergey Kovalev and Bernard Hopkins.

Sukhotsky (22-2, 16KOs) weighed in at a trim and ready 173.4 lb. for his second major title fight, and just his fourth career fight outside of Russia. Both career losses have taken place on the road. The 33-year old dropped a 12-round decision to Juergen Braehmer in his failed bid at a light heavyweight belt five years ago to the day come fight night, then lost a landslide decision to Cornelius White in Las Vegas in July ’12.

In the evening’s chief support, Ionut “Jo Jo” Dan faces Kevin Bizier in a rematch to their tightly contested scrap in the very same hosting venue last November. Like Friday’s rematch, their first meet came on the undercard of a show headlined by Stevenson, who stopped Tony Bellew in six rounds to cap his banner year.

Dan emerged by split decision, handing Bizier his first and only loss. The winner of the rematch will be named mandatory challenger to current unbeaten welterweight titlist Kell Brook.

Andre Dirrell seeks his 6th straight win following the lone loss of his career to Carl Froch way back in Oct. ’09. A victory on Friday will put him in direct line for a rematch, as he faces Derek Edwards in a 12-round super middleweight title elimination bout. 

Dirrell (23-1, 16KOs) came in at 167.8 lb. for what will mark his third fight in just over four months. Edwards (27-3-1, 14KOs) weighed an even 167 lb. for his first fight since scoring a massive upset win when he knocked out previously unbeaten Badou Jack barely one minute into the opening round of their clash in February. 

Opening the SHOWTIME telecast, precocious light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (6-0, 6KOs) faces Jeff Page Jr. The scheduled 10-round affair is the only fight on the card without major title fight implications, although Beterbiev—who just turned pro last June—is eyeing a light heavyweight title shot in 2015.

Both fighters made weight for the slew of regional titles on the line. Beterbiev weighed 174.6 lb., while Page Jr. (15-0, 10KOs)—who hails from Kansas—weighed 174.2 lb. for his first career fight outside of the Midwestern U.S. region.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox