Canada's Stevenson takes revenge on Boone, now ready for title fight with Dawson

MONTREAL - Adonis Stevenson got his revenge, and now he hopes to win a world light heavyweight boxing title.

The power puncher from Longueuil, Que., avenged his only defeat when he knocked out Darnell (Deezol) Boone with a pair of lefts in the sixth round of a non-title bout Friday night at the Bell Centre.

Stevenson (20-1) suffered his only loss to Boone (20-20-3) by a second-round TKO in 2010, but he dominated the rematch.

With that out of the way, he will now concentrate on his first shot at a world title when he takes on WBC champion (Bad) Chad Dawson on June 8 at the Bell Centre.

"Dawson is another step," the 35-year-old said. "We will come up with a game plan for that.

"This was a completely different game plan. He had good defence, but I worked the body and the head and I waited for my chance."

Boone covered up and played defence, but every now and then would launch big roundhouse rights to try to catch Stevenson off guard. The same strategy worked the first time they met, but Stevenson was ready for it this time.

The southpaw forced the American to take a knee with a right shot to the body early in the sixth, then stunned him coming out of a corner with a left uppercut and followed with a straight left that send Boone to the canvas to end the bout.

"I was waiting to wear him down," said Stevenson. "I was patient.

"He was throwing wide punches. That didn't bother me. When I hurt him (to the body), I knew he was vulnerable. Before that, it wouldn't have been as effective."

His trainer, Javan (Sugar Hill) Steward, said patience was key against an opponent looking to hit a home run.

"The previous time he fought Boone he was too anxious," said Steward, the nephew of the late Hall of Fame trainer Emanual Steward. "He gave us an exciting knockout.

"He fired a left uppercut. He hadn't thrown anything up the middle the whole fight."

The fight was at a catchweight of 173 pounds to help Stevenson, a super-middleweight, make the transition to light heavyweight to face Dawson.

Stevenson punished Boone with shots to the body and left hooks to the head that gradually caused Boone's right eye to swell. He landed a big left in the fifth that signalled the end was near.

Stevenson, the top-ranked super-middleweight by the IBF, posted a seventh straight knockout win.

The co-feature saw quick-handed Eleider Alvarez (12-0) unify two minor belts with a third-round TKO of veteran Nicholson Poulard (19-3) in a match of world-ranked Montreal light heavyweights.

Alvarez controlled the match with his left jab, then combined a jab and a thundering straight right to send Poulard to the floor 2:08 into the third round of the scheduled 10-rounder. Referee Marlon B. Wright checked the 35-year-old over and waved an end to the bout.

Alvarez, who added Poulard's NABA title to his own NABO belt, is now hoping to land an elimiation bout to become mandatory challenger to WBA champ Beibut Shumanov.

Hughie Fury, the six-foot-eight cousin of Irish/British heavyweight contender Tyson Fury, was impressive in his pro debut with a second-round stoppage of journeyman David Whittom of Quebec City on Friday night.

The 18-year-old Fury held Whittom (11-20-1) off with a stiff jab until he seized the moment 1:49 into the second to land a right hook that put his six-foot-one opponent on the canvas. A wobbly Whittom got up, but his corner signalled to the referee to stop the one-sided contest. Whittom has lost 15 of his last 16 bouts.

Fury has vowed to break Mike Tyson's record of being the first heavyweight to win a world title at 20 years old.

Another heavyweight clash saw Didier Bence (8-0) of Montreal take a close eight-round decision from American Jonte (Rock Steady) Willis (9-5-1).

Southpaw light middleweight Mian Hussain (5-0), the 2011 Pan-Am Games bronze medallist from Montreal, used a straight left to send Basilio Silva (11-7) of the Dominican Republic straight onto his back and out 1:24 into the second round of their six-rounder.

Marc (Gwapo) Pagcaliwangan of London, Ont., improved to 4-0 with a one-round bantamweight win over Jose Adan Fernandez (2-1) of the Dominican Republic. Fernandez injured his right hand in the first minute and retired at the end of the round.

Light middleweight Sebastien Bouchard (5-0) of Baie-St-Paul, Que., absorbed some stiff shots but hung in for a four-round unanimous decision over Adam Grabiec (3-7) of Poland.