Adonis Stevenson survived a couple anxious moments but he retained the WBC Light Heavyweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Andrzej Fonfara at the Bell Centre in Montreal

In round one Stevenson landed a hard left and sent Fonfara to the canvas. Stevenson was all over Fonfara and tried to end the fight in the opening frame. The shots opened up a cut around the right eye of Fonfara in round three. Fonfara settled down and had a decent round four. In round five, Steveson landed a hard left to the body that put Fonfara on the canvas. When Fonfara got to his feet, Stevenson continued to work the body and then landed a huge uppercut. Stevenson hurt Fonfara yet again in round six with a hard right to the body.

Fonfara hung in and tried to work behind the jab in round seven. The fight turned in round nine when a right hook sent Stevenson down to the canvas. Fonfara continued to pepper Stevenson with shots throughout the round. Round ten was a good bounce back round for Stevenson as he hurt Fonfara on a couple of occasions by mixing up head and body shots. Stevenson came out in round 11 by battering the body and then hurt Fonfara with an uppercut. The two battled to the end which was much to the delight of the crowd at the Bell Centre

Stevenson, 173 1/2 lbs of Montreal won by scores of 115-110 twice and 116-109 and is now 24-1. Fonfara, 174 1/2 lbs of Chicago is 24-3.

After the fight, Stevenson told SHOWTIME Sports® ringside reporter Jim Gray, “(It was a) good fight. I hurt my left hand in the second round. He did very well. I threw the punch but I caught the elbow and I hurt my hand.”

Stevenson was satisfied with his victory despite getting knocked down. “Everyone gets knocked down. But I came back strong. I showed the world because I’m a true champion.

“I told everybody (Fonfara) is strong. He’s been training since December. He is ranked No. 1 and No. 3 in the world. He was ready for this fight. I never overlooked him because he’s a tough fighter.”

When asked by Gray about the prospect of fighting Bernard Hopkins and Sergey Kovalev, Stevenson said, “I accept any challenge. Bernard can be next. And I have no problem with Kovalev. If I fight him I fight him.”

Fonfara, despite the loss, made an emphatic statement. After the fight, he said, “I survived because I have the heart to fight. Every time he hit me I felt the punch. Tonight Stevenson is better. I’m still young. I’m only 26 years old. I’m training hard and one day I’ll be a world champion.”

Middleweight power puncher destroyed former world title challenger Fernando Guerrero in round three of a scheduled 12-round bout.

Guerrero had a good first two-minutes of the bout as he darted in and landed lead lefts. Lemieux finally caught Guerrero with a massive left hook that set up two hard rights that sent Guerrero to the canvas. In round two, Guerrero landed huge shots and opened up a cut from the right eye. Lemieux scored a second knockdown at the end of the round from a hard combination. Lemieux was relentless to start round three to the point Guerrero to a knee without a punch being thrown. With the blood streaming out of his eye, Guerrero went down from hard uppercuts and the fight was stopped at 1:56 of round three.

Lemieux, 159 1/2 lbs of Montreal is now 32-2 with 30 knockouts. Guerrero, 159 lbs of Los Angeles is now 26-3.

“I knew Fernando Guerrero is a very strong fighter. Very tough,” said Lemieux. “He’s been down many times and always gets back up. Once I started to land my shots I could see it in his eyes that the game started to change.

“The results in the ring are from my dedication and my training. I want to tip my hat to Fernando Guerrero. He is a great fighter. I studied him for many months prior to the fight. So I am very happy with the outcome.”

“I’m determined to be a world champion. I would love to fight anyone in the world at 160.”

Jr. Middleweight Jermell Charlo remained undefeated with a 12-round unanimous decision over Charlie Ohta.

Charlo took charge with his boxing in the first 2 rounds. In round three, Ohta landed a right hand that sent Charlo to the canvas. Charlo was not hurt and boxed as if nothing happend and came back to land a hard upper cut the bell. Charlo continued to box and mix up his punches with right and left hooks. He jabbed well too. Ohta would get in an occasional nice counter.

In round nine, Charlo was deducted a point for low blows but was never threatened during the fight.

Charlo, 153 3/4 lbs of Houston won by scores of 115-111 and 118-109 twice and is now 24-0. Ohta, 153 lbs of Tokyo is now 24-2-1.

After the fight, Charlo said that he was not concerned with the knockdown. “To me, I slipped. I didn’t feel the solid shot. He hit me with the right hand. He just caught me off balance. But it is what it is.

“This was a rough one. I did what I had to do tonight.”
Good looking Jr. Middleweight prospect Julian Williams remained undefeated with a terrific 8th round stoppage in a 10-round bout.

Williams dominated with quick over hand rights in the 1st couple of rounds. He rocked Medina on several occasions through out the fight. In round six, he shook Medina with a beautiful 10 punch combination for which 6 of the punches landed flush. In round eight, Williams landed a perfect double right hand that sent Medina to the canvas and the fight was stopped upon Medina getting to his feet at the count of 10 at 1:59 of round 8.

Williams, 154 3/4 lbs of Philadelphia is now 16-0-1 with 10 knockouts. Medina, 154 lbs of Los Angeles, CA is now 26-5-2.

Light Heavyweight prospect Eleider Alvarez scored a 10-round unanimous decision over Alexander Johnson.

Alavarez dominated with a the right hand against the southpaw Johnson. In round five, Alavarez dropped Johnson with a combination. Johnson was able to get out of the round finished the fight as Alavarez seemed content to box from the outside.

Alvarez, 175 lbs of Montreal won by scores of 97-92 on all cards and is now 15-0. Johnson, 171 1/2 lbs of Washington, DC is now 15-2.

MONTREAL (May 22, 2014) – Hometown favorite David Lemieux and Fernando Guerrero agree on one thing: their showdown on the undercard of the Adonis Stevenson-Andrzej Fonfara SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING tripleheader at Bell Centre this Saturday, May 24 will likely end in a knockout.

“The knockout is going to be there,” Lemieux said. “It’s only a matter of how it’s going to be there that is going to make a difference.”

The power-punching Lemieux (31-2, 29 KOs), of Montreal, and Guerrero (26-2, 19 KOs) of Salisbury, Md., will square off in a 10-round middleweight co-featured bout live on SHOWTIME® (9 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).

Guerrero, who compiled a 2-0 record in Canada while fighting as an amateur, isn’t fazed by Lemieux’s power or the prospect of fighting in his hometown.

“We’ve faced punchers before and I’ve demolished them,” Guerrero said. “With a guy like David and I facing off, it doesn’t seem like the fight will go the distance.”

In the opening bout of the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast, Houston’s unbeaten rising star Jermell Charlo (23-0, 11 KOs) takes on Japan’s Charlie Ohta (24-1-1, 16 KOs) in a 12-round junior middleweight match.

The 2013 Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year, “Superman” Stevenson (23-1, 20 KOs), of Montreal, will defend his WBC Light Heavyweight World Championship against Chicago’s Fonfara (25-2, 15 KOs), the IBF No. 1 and WBC No. 3-ranked contender.

On SHO EXTREME (7 p.m. ET/PT) from the Bell Centre, Julian “J-Rock” Williams (15-0-1, 9 KOs), of Philadelphia, faces Michael Medina (26-4-2, 19 KOs), of Modesto, Calif., in a 10-round junior middleweight scrap and world-ranked Eleider Alvarez (14-0, 8 KOs), of Montreal by way Colombia, collides with Alexander Johnson (15-1, 6 KOs), of Washington, D.C., in a 10-round light heavyweight bout.

Here’s what the participants had to say at Thursday’s press conference:

DAVID LEMIEUX:
“I’ve been preparing for a spectacular fight. We’re both great fighters, but only one of us can win on Saturday.

“(Guerrero) is one of the best fighters I’ve fought to date. I feel spectacular. My training camp has been spectacular; I’ve had the best training camp of my career. We did everything we needed to do in case there are any surprises in the ring.

“I feel the strongest I’ve ever been. I’m ready to go 12 rounds. If it has to go to the limit, I will have no problem.

On switching trainers……“It has been a big help in my career. It’s been a big turnaround. My new trainer Marc Ramsay has helped me become ready to be a 12-round fighter. There have been so many changes since the two upsets I had with my old trainer. I now see all the things that I need to be on top of my game and to be a world champion. We’ve been making adjustments and we’ve been getting the results in the ring. I’m ready to fight anybody right now.

“I’m a knockout artist. Every fight I go into I expect a knockout. And I’m feeling the strongest I’ve ever felt since the beginning.

“I expect (Guerrero) to take my head off. So I will be ready for whatever. I’m not scared – I expect the same punishment that I give to my opponents. I want to knock him out, so I expect the same thing from him.

“I’m not worried. Whatever he brings to the table, I’ll adjust and I’ll be victorious.”

FERNANDO GUERRERO:
“We’ve fought in Canada before in the amateurs and I won both times. I’m 2-0 in Canada. I’m not worried about fighting in front of his hometown fans.

“I’ve grown since the loss to (Peter) Quillin. I had one of the worst camps of my life for that fight and I wasn’t mentally or emotionally prepared. We just have to move on and not have any emotions in there for this fight.

“Lemieux and I have a lot of similarities. We both have two losses. We’ll get in there and see what happens. One of us will likely walk out with a third loss, and I’ve done everything I can to make sure that it isn’t me.

“Once we step in the ring there aren’t any excuses. If I win, it’s because I prepared as hard as I could. If I lose, it’s because I didn’t give it my all.

“I’m 2-0 in Canada. I came here and I won. When you’re a boxer, it’s not the location that matters because we all fight in the ring. I’ll step in the ring and do my job and let the judges do theirs.

“I’ve seen a lot of his fights – we’ve done our homework. We know what he does well and we also know his weaknesses.

“I consider myself a puncher just like him. He’s strong, I’m strong. He’s fast, I’m fast. He has heart, I have heart. But I never give up. I have the will to fight.’’

JERMELL CHARLO:
“I’m blessed and thankful to be here in Canada. Ever since we touched down it’s been great. I’m ready to put on a great performance and keep climbing up in the ranks at 154 pounds.

On his height advantage over Ohta… “In camp we worked on so many different things and we’re ready for whatever Charlie is going to bring. He’s 5-foot-6 and I’m 5-foot-11½ so that’s an advantage for me.

“I’m fast, I’m strong. I’m way stronger than I was for the (Gabriel) Rosado fight, so hopefully that will come out during this fight. You’ll see the strength and you’ll see that I’m ready for this next stage and level of boxing.

On being in camp with Erislandy Lara… “We push each other hard. Even with the language barrier we’re able to still communicate and make fun out of training and at the same time give it our all.

“We’ve been gaining from everything that we knew we missed out on last fight. So it’s just the process of getting better.

On Ohta not being present at the press conference… “It happens. I’ve seen him on tape. I know what he looks like, so it’s fine. I’ll see him at the fight, and I’ll see him at the weigh-in.

“He’s a short and stocky guy so he uses his compact positioning and his style to his perfection. But what fighter haven’t I faced that comes forward, that puts a lot of pressure on and is heavy?

“He has a little pop on his punches. He’s 32 years old, I’m 24 – my birthday was Monday — so I feel like I’m getting older and I’m getting better.”

CHARLIE OHTA (Prepared Statement):
“I’m in great shape and I had a great camp. This is my time.

“This is a great fight between a boxer and a puncher. It’s no secret what I’m going to do — I’m going to bring the heat and put the heat on Charlo.

“We guarantee you will see a great fight and everyone will get their money’s worth.”