Stevenson destroys Dawson in one
Adonis Stevenson (21-1) knocked out Chad Dawson (31-3) in one round to emphatically take the WBC light heavyweight title on Saturday evening at the Bell Center in Montreal, Canada.
Dawson made the mistake of coming out aggressive and it cost him when a big left hook put him down roughly a minute into the fight. He barely made it back to his feet but was on weak legs. The referee Michael Griffin then looked him over and decided to stop the fight at 1:16 of the 1st round when he saw how hurt the American was.
"It was a punch I did'nt see," said a shocked Dawson. "He caught me. That's it. He caught me with a good punch."
Stevenson became the only Canadian to currently hold a world title.
"You understand why people don't want to fight me now?" said Stevenson. "It's a dream come true. I'm a world champion and I'm very happy. The game plan - use my speed, put pressure on and as soon as I had a good chance, put my left at the top. I caught him, and that's a beautiful punch."
Up next for Stevenson looks to be Britain's Tony Bellew.
On the undercard, Yuriorkis Gamboa (23-0) unanimously outpointed Darleys Perez (28-1) to win the interim WBA lightweight title. The 2004 Olympic champion from Cuba who now lives in Miami, floored Perez in the 1st round when the Columbian's feet became tangled as Gamboa was punching.Gamboa had too much speed for Perez and began to pile up rounds early on, though he was clearly tiring in the second half of the fight when a counter left from Perez appeared to knock Gamboa down in the 11th but it was ruled a slip. The judges had Gamboa winning with scores of 116-111, 115-112 and 115-112.
With the win, Gamboa is now in line for a future shot at WBA 135 lb titlist Richard Abril.