PBC on Spike: Stevenson Blows Away Karpency in Third

"Kryptonite" wasn't stopping @AdonisSuperman at #PBConSpike. See big left hand that TKO'd Tommy Kryptonite Karpency https://t.co/nm7QdNq9wB

— PBC (@premierboxing) September 12, 2015

It was the result virtually everybody expected: Tommy Karpency being taken off his feet and one way or another, being stopped in the main event of PBC on Spike’s latest Friday Night Lights Out telecast. As it turned out, Karpency had been knocked down twice and was in such peril that his corner intelligently threw in the towel. All of that happened by the time 21 seconds ticked off the clock in the third and Adonis Stevenson had retained his WBC light heavyweight title.

Stevenson was patient early, but his vaunted power almost couldn’t help but find a nice, uncomfortable place to land on Karpency’s jaw. And once it did -- courtesy of that hellacious left hand of his -- “Kryptonite” looked more like porcelain.

Karpency was tough, though. After being rocked badly in the first from a counter left to the noggin, the Pennsylvanian continued to plug away with lumbering, often wide punches to the head and body. Karpency even landed some decent shots onto Stevenson, but the Haitian-born Quebec resident never flinched. He knew, as did everyone else, that it was a matter of time.

A perfect left hand counter crippled the challenger’s equilibrium late in the second and a follow-up right/left floored the floundering Karpency. He flopped face-first onto the canvas and then fumbled into the ropes before getting to his feet. He was saved by the bell but it didn’t matter; the end was nigh.

Stevenson immediately flattened Karpency (25-5-1, 14 KOs) with a lead left to the mouth in the third. He barely beat referee Hector Afu’s count but before Afu could give him a look-over, his corner was already throwing in the towel. Afu was likely going to stop the mugging anyway, which officially ceased just 21 ticks into the third, eliciting a chorus of excitement throughout Toronto’s Ricoh Coliseum.

“He tried,” Stevenson, now 27-1 with 22 KOs, said afterward. “I expected that, for him to try. But ‘Kryptonite,’ he lost today.”

Stevenson delighted everybody when he finally called out rival Sergey Kovalev immediately after giving shout-outs to Canada. Kovalev had been slinging more mud at Stevenson in the media, but it seems like the time has finally arrived for the two to fight.

“Kovalev, it’s time,” Stevenson shouted into the cameras. “It’s time to unify the titles.”

In the co-main event, 2012 Olympian Errol Spence Jr. looked sensational yet again in tearing apart Chris van Heerden before knocking him out 50 seconds into the eighth. Spence utilized a surgical right jab from his southpaw stance to set up his brilliant leads and counters. He never relented control of the action.

Van Heerden continuously tried to brawl with the Texan, but even after having inside success, he could do virtually nothing against “The Truth.” Spence poured on his offense during the second half and dug sinister hooks and uppercuts to the body, before drilling his foe up top.

After several rounds of being worn down, the granite chin and body of the South African finally had had enough. Van Heerden backed himself into the ropes, but before he could spring an attack, he was dealt a double left hook to the ear. He took a knee to regroup, but once he was allowed to continue, Spence nailed him with a thudding left uppercut to the gut, dropping him again.

Van Heerden (23-2-1, 12 KOs) beat the count and survived the stanza, but Spence took him out in the next frame. Spence pinned him along the ropes and unloaded a barrage of punishment until referee Allen Huggins finally stopped it.

Spence (18-0, 15 KOs) believes he has become a legitimate welterweight contender, and no one will likely dispute that. Brimming with confidence and world-class talent, Spence proved that he can make the next step to stardom.

“I wanted to have a spectacular, one-sided performance and I think I did that,” a satisfied Spence said afterward. “I want the biggest fights and in order to do that, this is what I have to do. I want everybody in the top 10. I think I deserve it. I want the best.”

Prichard Colon tore apart former world champion Vivian Harris (32-11-2, 19 KOs), stopping him in the fourth. After rocking Harris in the third, a wicked left hook/overhand right felled him and he never came close to beating the count. Colon (16-0, 13 KOs) got the win officially at 1:04 into the fourth, giving him the biggest name on his ledger so far.