By Luke Furman

Yvon Michel, promoter for WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (27-1, 22 KOs) was disappointed with Ring Magazine's decision to strip his fighter of their light heavyweight title.

The magazine explained that their decision was based on Stevenson not facing any boxers ranked in their top five in the last two years.

The last opponent that Stevenson fought within their top five was Tavoris Cloud in September 2013.

Michel hopes their decision is not being influenced by rival promoter Golden Boy Promotions, who own the magazine. Golden Boy is involved in a legal dispute with Al Haymon, who manages Stevenson. There is also a legal tug of war between Michel and Golden Boy over the promotional contract of former middleweight champion David Lemieux. 

"Due to a combination of circumstances, the champion did not face any of these boxers [in the top five]. We respect The Ring, which confirm that their decision was made according to its rules. We hope that this decision has nothing to do with the fact that the owner of the magazine, Golden Boy Promotions, is currently in legal dispute with the manager of Stevenson and his promoter," Michel said.

"Adonis Stevenson is and remains to be the WBC light heavyweight champion. He is also the linear champion of the division. His goal is always to unify the belts in 2016. "

Michel also explained five different items that prevented Stevenson from facing several highly ranked fighters in Ring's top five.

- Kovalev was the mandatory challenger for Stevenson, but withdrew from the purse bid scheduled for May 2015.

- Hopkins preferred to face Kovakev instead of Stevenson in 2014 and he confirmed his intention to fight at 168 pounds.

- Pascal was the mandatory challenger to Adonis and the fight was scheduled for April 2015, but he preferred to fight Kovalev in March 2015, then he has an agreement for a rematch in January 2015.

- Braehmer is happy to defend his Interim WBA Belt in Germany and after short discussion, he has shown no interest in confronting Adonis.

- Alvarez fights against the No. 6 Isaac Chilemba on Saturday in a clash where the winner will become mandatory challenger to Adonis.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org