Adonis Stevenson

Stevenson Adonis (born 22 September 1977), best known as Adonis Stevenson, is a Haitian Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2018.

In his early twenties, after a criminal trial in 1998 in Quebec, Stevenson served 18 months of a four-year prison sentence for managing prostitutes, assault, and issuing threats.

While in prison, he also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault after putting a fellow inmate into a coma.

After leaving prison in 2001, Stevenson vowed he would never return.

Stevenson became Quebec Middleweight champion in 2004, and was named best amateur fighter in Canada in 2005 and again in 2006.

Stevenson won the Canadian national title in 2005 and 2006.

Stevenson competed in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, and won the silver medal, losing to local Australian Jarrod Fletcher in the final.

It was also the only medal won by a Canadian boxer at the Commonwealth Games.

A 29-year-old Stevenson turned professional in September 2006.

His opponent was Mike Funk, another boxer making his debut, at the Montreal Casino in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Stevenson knocked Funk out with a hook in twenty-two seconds.

On August 1, 2009, at Windsor Station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Stevenson defeated Anthony Bonsante by first round knockout.

The two fighters came out of their corners for the fight with Bonsante launching the first attack, but just moments after the assault, Stevenson landed a left hand that sent Bonsante down to the canvas.

Bonsante sprawled out on the canvas with his eyes closed, while the referee reached the count of six before stopping the fight.

Bonsante had begun to get up at the count of six, but it was too late, leaving Bonsante livid with the decision as he chased the referee around the ring in an attempt to protest the decision, but to little avail.

He also won a fifth-round TKO decision against Jermain Mackey on September 25, 2009.

On April 17, 2010, in his first fight in the United States, which also was his first time fighting for promoter Lou DiBella, he suffered his first defeat being stopped in the second round by Darnell Boone.

Boone had been knocked down on the canvas twice in the first round, however, in the second round, Stevenson rushed to Boone without maintaining his defense and he got caught by a solid right sending him on the canvas for the first time in his career.

Stevenson managed to get back on his feet inside the count of 10, however, the referee waved the fight off as he deemed Stevenson unable to continue.

Nonetheless, Stevenson resumed with GYM Promotions and won the North American title NABA on April 8, 2011, at the expense of Derek Edwards by KO in the third round.

He then won by referee stoppage in the first round against Dion Savage (Shujaa El-Amin) on September 17, 2011, and retained his title against Aaron Pryor Jr on December 10, 2011, by referee stoppage in the ninth round.

Stevenson jumped from 15th to 2nd position for the IBF title, winning by KO in the first round duel against Jesús González on February 18, 2012.

He then fought Noe Gonzalez on April 20, 2012, and won the fight at 1:40 in the second round when the referee stopped the fight.

His next fight originally set to be against Don George with the winner getting a shot at the IBF champion.

The fight was originally scheduled to be a co-main event of a fight card also including a match between Jean Pascal and Tavoris Cloud on August 11, 2012, but the even was cancelled due to an injury suffered by Pascal.

The Stevenson fight was then moved up to August 17, 2012, and was set to be part of ESPN Friday Night Fights, but Stevenson later injured his hand cancelling the fight.

The fight was then rescheduled to October 12.

In the fight Stevenson knocked George down twice in the fifth and once in the sixth round before winning the fight with a 12th-round TKO after knocking him down twice more.

He won the WBC, Ring magazine and lineal light-heavyweight titles in 2013 by defeating Chad Dawson by first-round knockout, which earned him awards for Fighter of the Year and Knockout of the Year by The Ring.

Known for his fast hand speed and exceptional knockout power, Stevenson was considered one of boxing's hardest punchers during his prime.

On February 4, 2013, it was announced that Stevenson would get the chance to avenge his only loss as a professional against Darnell Boone (19-20-3, 8KOs) with the fight taking place on March 22 at the Bell Centre.

With this fight, Stevenson was risking his IBF mandatory status.

Stevenson avenged his only loss, knocking out Darnell Boone with a pair of lefts in the sixth round on March 22, 2013, at the Bell Centre.

Stevenson, fighting at 171.9 pounds, forced Boone to take a knee with a right hook to the body early in the sixth, then stunned him coming out of a corner with a left uppercut, followed with a straight left that sent Boone on the canvas.

Stevenson moved up to light heavyweight to challenge Lineal/WBC/The Ring champion Chad Dawson (31-2, 17 KOs) on June 8, 2013, at the Bell Centre.

In the press conferences leading up to the fight, Dawson called the fight a tune-up, also claiming that he had to Google Stevenson because he had never heard of him.

For more than five years, he made ten successful defenses of the WBC and lineal titles until sustaining a life-threatening brain injury in his 2018 fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

Stevenson's known name is an inversion of his family name and given name.

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Stevenson moved to Montreal, Quebec with his family when he was seven.

By 14 years old, he was living on the streets and soon fell into a violent gang which drew him into a criminal lifestyle.