By Keith Idec

VERONA, N.Y. – David Lemieux showed some concern about Curtis Stevens’ health after brutally knocking him out.

The former IBF middleweight champion also expressed a tremendous amount of satisfaction from responding to Stevens’ incessant pre-fight trash talk the best way he knew how. Montreal’s Lemieux called Stevens’ behavior “trash” and added he had to “make an example out of him” during a post-fight press conference early Sunday morning at Turning Stone Resort Casino.

Lemieux clearly was bothered by Stevens’ pre-fight taunts on social media, which included pictures of Lemieux (37-3, 33 KOs) from his eighth-round technical knockout loss to Gennady Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) in October 2015 at Madison Square Garden.

“We wanted to make a statement and we did,” said Lemieux, whose picture-perfect left hook knocked Stevens unconscious in the third round Saturday night. “Sometimes you’ve gotta stop trying to degrade other fighters. You’ve gotta humble yourself or you will be humbled. Tonight, I wanted to make an example out of him because no fighter deserves to be degraded like that.

“Every fighter works hard. We’re all here to feed our family. We’re all here to feed our kids. You don’t need somebody who’s gonna try to degrade you and call you names. It’s like that in boxing and it’s like that in life. You don’t act like this. This is trash, and I wanted to make an example out of him. Respect everybody. Respect every fighter. This is the real world. So for that, I’m grateful. I had a great night, a great training camp, and I made a statement. And we’re moving along to much bigger and better fights. I’m ready. Are they ready? That’s the question.”

Lemieux-Stevens was developing into a competitive, entertaining middleweight battle before Lemieux drilled Stevens with a left hook that left him out cold, flat on his back. That spectacular conclusion to their HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event forced referee Charlie Fitch to stop their scheduled 12-rounder immediately, at 1:59 of the third round.

Brooklyn’s Stevens (29-6, 21 KOs) was taken from the ring on a stretcher, then to a local hospital as a precautionary measure.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.