MONTREAL — Adonis Stevenson retained his World Boxing Council light heavyweight title by unanimous decision on Saturday night in a tougher-than-expected brawl with Poland’s Andrzej Fonfara at Bell Centre.
Stevenson (24-1), who defended the title for a third time, picked himself off the canvas in the ninth round and needed to clinch to get through the round before battling back the next round to preserve the victory.
The lanky 26-year-old Fonfara (25-3) was knocked down in the first round and again with a body shot in fifth, but kept coming back and going on the attack. In the final round, he caught Stevenson with a right and went all-out for the knockout.
Ringside judges John McKay and Jack Woodburn had it 115-110 while Richard DeCarufel had it 116-109, all for the 36-year-old Stevenson.
It was the first time Stevenson went the distance in a fight in 15 bouts since 2007.
After the bout, Stevenson said he hoped to take on legend Bernard Hopkins next.
In the co-feature, middleweight David Lemieux took a step toward title contention with an impressive third-round knockout of Roberto Guerrero.
Lemieux (32-2) knocked down Guerrero (26-3) in the first and second rounds. After Guerrero took a voluntary knee in the third to have his bleeding right eye cleared, Lemieux attacked and knocked him out with a right uppercut.
It was the 25-year-old Montreal fighter’s seventh win in a row since a pair of losses in 2011 derailed his title bout hopes. And it was the fifth time in five fights the crowd-pleasing knockout artist won inside three rounds.
The 27-year-old Guerrero, a Dominican Republic native living in Salisbury, Md., was in his second fight since losing a bid for the World Boxing Organization belt last year to Peter Quillan.
A light-middleweight bout between top-10 contenders saw Jermell Charlo (24-0) of Houston dominate Charlie Belamy Ohta (24-2-1) of Japan in a 12-rounder.
The five-foot-11 Charlo, who had a five-inch height advantage, was knocked down by a left-right combination early in the third and was deducted a point in the ninth for a second low blow, but still earned scores of 115-111, 118-109 and 118-109 from the judges.
Eleider Alvarez (15-0), one of promoter Yvon Michel’s top prospects, must have thought it strange to be put in the first fight on the card, but he pulled out a workmanlike unanimous 10-round decision over Alexander Johnson (15-2).
Alvarez was a knockout artist early in his career, but since he has been given a better class of opponents, he has gone the distance in three straight fights. A knockdown in the third against the left-handed Johnson gave him 97-92 scores on three judges cards for the win.
Welterweight Junior Ulysse (2-0) of Montreal was impressive in his second pro bout, putting Argentina’s Carlos Alberto Olivera (6-7) down twice before their scheduled four-rounder was stopped at 1:38 of the first.
Philadelphia prospect Julian (J Rock) Williams (16-0-1) battered Michael Medina of Los Angeles through seven rounds before flooring him with a right in the eighth of their super-middleweight bout.