Stevenson has drifted away from that fight and, as the Russian waits to lock in a major clash with Andre Ward, Adonis will defend his WBC crown against Thomas Williams Jr in Quebec on Friday (July 29). Stevenson then landed a flawless six-inch straight left that crumpled Williams face-first to the canvas. To his credit, Williams fought back in the 2nd round, although his offense was frequently at the expense of his admittedly shaky defense. Stevenson was 173.6lbs, Williams 174.6lbs. Both 175-pounders were rocked in the third and Williams’ fortunes continued into the fourth as he not only forced the titlist into brief close-quarters slugfests, he talked trash and dared Stevenson to hit him. After the fight, however, there was no mention of rival Sergey Kovalev, who the world is clamoring for Stevenson to eventually fight. Stevenson’s uppercuts and body shots were taking a toll on Williams, whose “macho man” strategy steadily lost steam, try as he might to stay in the contest. A short left hand ended it. Time was 2:54.
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Stevenson (28-1, 23 KO’s), from Montreal, floored Williams (20-1, 14 KO’s) in the first round with a left to the side of the head, but Williams beat the count and roared back, rocking Stevenson in the second.
The co-feature has light heavyweight Eleider Alvarez (19-0) of Montreal against Robert Berridge (27-4-1). Alvarez used superior movement and speed to out-box his opponent for 10 rounds and won via tallies of 99-90 and 98-92 (twice).
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Middleweight action saw Immanuel Aleem (1-0) fac Demond Nicholson (17-1). Scores were 77-75, 76-76 and 76-76.
