Adonis Stevenson hammers out hard-fought win over Sakio Bika

Instead, Sakio Bika was outgunned in an action-packed unanimous decision win for Adonis Stevenson, who continually rocked his opponent with thunderous, jaw-softening lefts.

Bika, as rugged a fighter as they come, has never been knocked out in his 42 professional fights.

He was sent to the canvas twice in violent fashion, in the sixth and ninth rounds, but managed to weather the storm that was Stevenson.

Thoughout the fight, Stevenson dictated the pace and controlled the action, keeping Bika at bay with a rapid-fire jab and picking him apart from a distance.

"I worked hard to be able to go for 12 rounds," Stevenson says. "Bika used his head a bit and tried to brawl, but I was able to control the fight."

When Bika tried to get inside on Stevenson, he ate more punches than he landed as Stevenson was able to use his superior speed and lateral movement to tag Bika and then get out of harm’s way.

Bika did try to press the action, generating some momentum for himself in the eighth round when he attempted to smother Stevenson on the ropes, punches wildly but landing few crisp blows.

According to CompuBox statistics, Stevenson landed 229 of 635 punches for a 56 percent connect rate, while Bika landed 113 of 390 punches (34 percent).

By the latter stages of the fight, Stevenson began playing to the sold-out crowd at the Pepsi Coliseum, wagging his tongue and winding up his punches, acting the showman.

Bika would stop Stevenson in his tracks momentarily when he tagged Stevenson with a nasty right hand in the 12th round, but by then it was too little, too late as Stevenson was well on his way to hammering out a decisive, albeit hard-fought victory.

"I said I would be happy with a knockout or going the distance to get the win," Stevenson says. "So I'm happy with how I fought tonight and the result."

View full coverage of Stevenson vs Bika.

Adonis Stevenson knocked down Sakio Bika twice in winning a 12-round unanimous decision, April 4, 2015.