Stevenson unanimously outpoints Fonfara

Adonis Stevenson right, and Andrzej Fonfara battle in a WBC light heavyweight title bout in Montreal on Saturday, May 24, 2014. AP.

MONTREAL, Canada—Adonis Stevenson successfully defended his World Boxing Council light-heavyweight title Saturday, unanimously outpointing Poland’s Andrej Fonfara at Bell Centre.

The 36-year-old Stevenson (24-1) picked himself off the canvas in the ninth round before battling back in the 10th to preserve the victory in his third title defense.

Fonfara (25-3) was knocked down in the first round and again with a body shot in fifth, but the lanky 26-year-old fighter 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.

Judges John McKay and Jack Woodburn scored it 115-110, and Richard DeCarufel had it 116-109. It was the first time Stevenson, the Montreal-based fighter from Haiti, went the distance in 15 bouts since 2007.

On the undercard, Montreal middleweight David Lemieux stopped Roberto Guerrero of the Dominican Republic in the third round. Lemieux (32-2) knocked down Guerrero (26-3) in the first and second rounds. After Guerrero took a knee in the third to have his bleeding right eye cleared, Lemieux knocked him out with a right uppercut.

In a light-middleweight bout, Jermell Charlo of Houston outpointed Charlie Belamy Ohta of Japan, receiving winning scores of 115-111, 118-109 and 118-109. Charlo improved to 24-0, and Ohta dropped to (24-2-1).