Stevenson flattens Fonfara en route to second round TKO win
WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis "Superman" Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) stopped Andrzej Fonfara (29-5, 17 KOs) in the second round of their rematch on Saturday night at the Bell Center in Montreal, which is Haiti-born Stevenson's adopted hometown, in Canada.
In the first fight in May 2014, Stevenson dominated most of the bout, scoring a knockdown in the first and fifth rounds, but Fonfara showed his toughness and fought back, dropping Stevenson in the ninth round, before losing a unanimous decision.
Stevenson again started well, flooring Fonfara in the first round with a hard left hand. But this time, although Fonfara got up almost immediately, he never recovered. The Pole took more punishment until the bell rang to end the round.
It was the same in the second as Stevenson unleased more unanswered blows, and Fonfara's trainer Virgil Hunter stepped up onto the ring apron and signalled referee Michael Griffin to stop the fight at 0:28 of the round.
"I was focused on the fight, and you saw what happened," said Stevenson. "My hands were moving very good, and you saw what happened. Fonfara tried, but I was ready for this fight.
"I'm the greatest at 175."
Most boxing observers rank Stevenson number three at light heavyweight behind IBF/WBA/WBO champion Andre Ward and former titleholder Sergey Kovalev, who meet on June 17. This is mainly due to Stevenson fighting lesser opposition since winning the WBC title with a first round KO over Chad Dawson in 2013.
A unification clash between Stevenson and the winner of Ward-Kovalev would decide who is the best fighter at 175 pounds.
But Stevenson's next opponent is likely to be Eleider Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs), who maintained his WBC number one mandatory position with a 12 round points win over former world champion Jean Pascal (31-5-1, 18 KOs) on the undercard.
Alvarez clearly won most of the rounds, although one judge poorly scored the fight 114-114, it was overruled by scores of 117-111 and 116-112.
Colombia-born Alvarez, who now resides in Canada, dominated the action throughout, connecting with stiff jabs and hard right hands, rocking Pascal several times in the fight.
Haiti-born Pascal, who also resides in Canada and became one of the country's most popular fighters, did not throw many punches, but tried to steal rounds by showing some offence towards the end of many rounds, which may have influenced the judge who scored the bout a draw.
Alvarez should now finally be matched-up with Stevenson after previously agreeing to take step-aside money to allow the champion an optional defence against Fonfara.
Pascal may continue fighting but he is finished as a top-level fighter.