By Ryan Burton

After a breakout 2013 campaign that saw Adonis Stevenson (28-1) go 4-0 with knockouts of Darnell Boone, Chad Dawson, Tavoris Cloud and Tony Bellew, criticism of his selection of opponents began in ernest. When a mega-fight against rival Sergey Kovalev to unify all four titles light heavyweight titles failed to come to fruition, the criticism grew even larger.

Rudy Louis, adviser and friend of Stevenson, said that they take the criticism in stride and realize that if a fighter like Floyd Mayweather can be criticized, then so can any other fighter.

"They are haters man. Even when he beat Pacquiao. What more do they want? Even fighting Pacquiao isn't enough. They always criticize," said Louis.

Stevenson's run since his 2013 Fighter of the Year campaign (he was named the winner by some outlets), looks like this: Andrzej Fonfara, Dmitry Sukhotskiy, Sakio Bika, Tommy Karpency and Thomas Williams Jr.

His fight against Fonfara was an exciting bout where both fighters hit the canvas. Stevenson believes there is a bit of a double standard when Joe Smith is lauded for stopping Fonfara but when he beat him, it isn't considered a good win.

"I always fight bums. When someone else fights the same guy he is a good opponent - but when I fight them they are bums. He is a good boxer if he fights Kovalev or any other boxer. If he fights me then he is a bum?. What the f***? That is what they will say," Stevenson explained.

As for what is next, Stevenson said an announcement should come soon.

"We don't know who we are fighting. We will let Al Haymon do the negotiating. I am the fighter and he is the negotiator. Anyways, I never have a problem fighting any fighter," Stevenson told BoxingScene.com.

Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter