By Luke Furman

The light heavyweight showdown between Adonis Stevenson and Eleider Alvarez is looking less and less likely to happen.

The fight was being targeted for a date in January 2018. The working date was January 27 at the Videotron Center in Quebec City.

Alvarez has been the mandatory challenger, for nearly two years, to Stevenson's WBC light heavyweight title. Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) and Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs), who are both advised by Al Haymon, were ordered to fight each other by the World Boxing Council.

Alvarez has been the mandatory challenger to Stevenson since his victory over Isaac Chilemba in November 2015 in Quebec City. The champion has not faced a mandatory challenger since he knocked out Tony Bellew in November 2013 in Quebec City. He has made six defenses of his title since.

The fight was originally planned for December 16th, but there was a conflict with popular middleweight David Lemieux returning on the same date against WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders, in Canada, in the main event of an HBO televised card.

But now there are rumors that Stevenson will once again pay Alvarez to step-aside in order to fight former champion Badou Jack.

Alvarez found it disrespectful of the WBC to start pushing posters of Stevenson vs. Jack - when the sanctioning body knows that Alvarez has been waiting for a mandatory shot for the last two years.

"I do not think I'm going to fight Stevenson. I do not think that this fight will take place," Alvarez told TVA Sports.

"What bothers me the most is the lack of respect for me [from the WBC]. That's what Stevenson wanted [is a fight with Jack]. And that's what the WBC seems to want too. If the WBC has put this picture on social media, it must be the game plan. When I spoke to [my father about this], he was really angry. He told me that I was being disrespected and that I needed to put on my pants."

Alvarez expects to receive a step-aside offer, which he will consider at this point to move forward with his own career.

"I do expect to receive that, and then I will analyze it with my team," Alvarez said.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.