Sakio Bika’s opponents in three of his six career losses and one of his three draws have one distinct commonality: They were southpaws.
Sakio Bika hopes to put his struggles against southpaws behind him Saturday when he fights Adonis Stevenson.
Bika (32-6-3, 21 KOs) is now set to challenge another southpaw Saturday in 175-pound world champion Adonis Stevenson (25-1, 21 KOs). He’s aware of his uneven track record against left-handers but confident he will emerge victorious in Quebec City in a fight being televised live on CBS.
“I have learned a lot fighting the best southpaws in the world," Bika said. "I will fight my own fight Saturday and not be drawn into Adonis' game plan."
Bika dropped unanimous decisions to Joe Calzaghe and Lucian Bute in 2006 and ’07, respectively, and lost by first-round disqualification to Jean-Paul Mendy in 2010 for hitting him while he was down.
The former 168-pound champion also settled for a four-round draw against Markus Beyer when their May 2006 fight was stopped due to a cut underneath Beyer’s right eye caused by an accidental headbutt.
To combat his problems against lefties, Bika again has been working with trainer Kevin Cunningham, who guided Bika past Marco Antonio Periban in their 168-pound title fight in June 2013.
This will be Bika’s sixth fight under Cunningham, who also helped coach southpaws Devon Alexander and Cory Spinks to world championships.
Bika anticipates his trainer’s familiarity with left-handers will work in his favor against Stevenson.
“It has been very beneficial working with Kevin,” Bika said. “His experience working with southpaws has given me the game plan I need to beat Adonis.”
Bika has gone 12 rounds 10 times in his career, including his last four fights, compared to twice for Stevenson. He expects that experience to work to his benefit Saturday.
“Adonis has never met anyone like me in the ring. He will struggle to contain me and will no doubt have many problems the longer the fight goes on,” Bika said. "I will land solid shots and he will feel my power. Stevenson relies too much on his power. Will he be able to last the distance when he knows his power cannot hurt me? We will see.”
