By Jake Donovan

Quebec City, Quebec, Canada 

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Adonis Stevenson made the fifth successful defense of his World light heavyweight crown, although forced to go 12 rounds in topping Sakio Bika by unanimous decision Saturday afternoon in Quebec City, Canada. 

Scores were 115-110, 115-111 and 116-110 in favor of Stevenson. Bika down in rounds six and nine.

Despite moving up for his first fight against a true light heavyweight, Bika struggled to make weight during Friday's weigh-in. The former super middleweight titlist required two tries to get within the 175 lb. limit. While technically the bigger man at the scales and in actual height, Bika's lack of power at the new weight was apparent, as Stevenson landed the more telling blows throughout the night once he managed to settle in. 

A knockdown appeared to have come from a sequence in round five, when Stevenson stunned Bika with a left hand and then scored two more power shots upstairs. Bika was wobbled to the point of clutching onto Stevenson's thigh before falling to the canvas, pulling down the defending champion with him.

The referee ruled it was a tangling of the legs that led to the fall, but the first official knockdown would come one round later when Stevenson connected with a straight left late in round six. 

Bika managed to beat the count and surprisingly hold his own in the middle rounds before hitting the deck again in round nine. The former titlist once again peeled himself off the deck, and closed the fight strong to bring the scores closer than the overall action suggested.

Stevenson moves to 26-1 (21KOs) with the win, though the second time in his last three fights in which he has been forced to go the distance. The southpaw often quotes the late, great Emanuel Steward and his “Knockouts sell” mentality, but failed to make good on that promise as he let his foot off the gas on several occasions even after Bika was hurt.

As for Bika, the former super middleweight titlist is now winless in his last three starts. The loss sends his record to 32-7-3 (21KOs), having not win a fight since claiming a super middleweight belt in June ’13. 

In the televised opener, Artur Beterbiev (8-0, 8KOs) was all business in a 4th round knockout of former light heavyweight titlist Gabriel Campillo. A full recap can be found here.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox