Highlights
–Adonis Stevenson blasted Thomas Williams Jr. with a solid left to the side of the head to gain a knockdown with about 40 seconds left in Round 1.
–In a back-and-forth second round, Stevenson landed the heavier punches early, but Williams began to find the range with some potent combinations, with the last one appearing to hurt the champ just before the bell.
–After punishing Williams with body shots and uppercuts, Stevenson finished off the challenger with a crushing left cross near the end of Round 4.
Adonis Stevenson has long claimed he has the most potent left hand in boxing. While a slew of fighters would no doubt argue otherwise, Thomas Williams Jr. certainly wouldn’t be one of them.
Adonis Stevenson fires a left cross at the head of Thomas Williams Jr. on Friday night in Quebec City. Stevenson successfully defended his 175-pound title with a sensational fourth-round knockout. (Dave Nadkarni/Premier Boxing Champions)
Making the seventh defense of his 175-pound title, Stevenson (28-1, 23 KOs) used his biggest weapon to knock Williams down late in the first round, then used it again to knock the challenger out cold late in the fourth.
The spectacular finish—a sure Knockout of the Year candidate—gave the man known as “Superman” his 15th consecutive victory, with 13 of those coming by knockout.
Despite being out of the ring for more than 10 months, Stevenson showed little rust, rocking Williams with his left hand on multiple occasions in the opening round. Williams (20-2, 14 KOs) stood up against the power until late in the stanza, when Stevenson came over the top with a looping left that cracked Williams on the side of the head, dropping the “Top Dog” to the canvas.
However, the Fort Washington, Maryland, native not only beat the count, but began flashing his own power early in the second round as both southpaws threw one big bomb after another.
The power display continued into Round 3 when both fighters had their moments, with Stevenson staggering his 28-year-old opponent with a big left uppercut, and Williams answering back with a left uppercut-right hook combination that appeared to hurt the champion before the bell.
Given how both fighters were unloading—and landing—vicious power shots, it seemed highly unlikely the bout would go the full 12 rounds. Turns out it didn’t even go another full three minutes.
After Williams took a brief respite because of a low blow early in Round 4, Stevenson stepped up the pressure, landing both punishing body shots and head-snapping uppercuts. Williams tried to counter with big blows of his own, but wasn’t nearly as accurate as he was in Round 2.
Then as the fourth was winding down and both men were standing toe-to-toe—as they did for much of the final three rounds—Williams began to fire a left uppercut. However, Stevenson beat him to the punch, unleashing a short left cross that connected flush on the jaw of Williams, who immediately dropped to both knees, then crashed face-first to the canvas.
This time, Williams was unable to make it to his feet, with the official ending coming at the 2:54 mark. With that, Stevenson ended Williams’ three-fight winning streak while securing his 16th stoppage in his last 18 victories dating to April 2008.
