Highlights
–Steel-chinned Kevin Bizier stormed out of his corner at the start and met Fredrick Lawson at ring-center. And through the first four rounds, Bizier dug to the head to body with both hands while preventing his taller opponent from gaining extension on his own shots.
–Proving his stamina and determination, Bizier sustained his attack after the initial assault and scored a fifth-round knockdown with a right hand that sent Lawson into ropes, which were all that kept the Ghana native on his feet. Lawson beat the count, only to be rocked yet again, but he made it to the bell.
–Lawson’s best round was the seventh, which he punctuated with a series of rights and lefts to his Canadian opponent’s head. But the relentless Bizier continued to pound his man, literally into submission: Sitting on his stool between the 10th and 11th rounds, Lawson complained to trainer Abel Sanchez of pain in his apparently broken—and definitely swollen—right jaw, resulting in the 10th-round technical knockout victory.
Prior to his American debut against unbeaten slugger Fredrick Lawson, Canadian native Kevin Bizier insisted he wanted a stoppage victory. His reasoning? He wanted to leave nothing to chance.
The steel-chinned 31-year-old got exactly what he wanted.
Despite fighting a previously unbeaten 147-pound rival who had scored 20 knockouts in 24 career fights, the 5-foot-9 Bizier (25-2, 17 KOs) was the one who came out and established—and sustained—tempo from the opening bell.
Evenly distributing monster shots to the jaw, temple, solar plexus and either side of the 6-foot Lawson’s body, Bizier methodically worked his way to an impressive 10th-round technical knockout victory at Miccosukee Resort & Gaming in Miami.
Bizier used a pinpoint right to the chin of Lawson (24-1, 20 KOs) to score a fifth-round knockdown. It proved to be a telling shot, as Lawson later complained to trainer Abel Sanchez of an injured jaw—one that was badly swollen and apparently broken. That injury led referee Sam Burgos to wave an end to the fight before the 11th bell sounded.
By earning the victory—which the winning fighter and his trainer insisted was a must—Bizier earned a likely title shot against English champion Kell Brook.
Despite Lawson’s impressive knockout stats, it was Bizier who sprinted out of his corner and met his opponent at ring-center in the first round. Soon after, Bizier signaled a long night for Lawson with a skin-rippling left-hook body shot.
Bizier was effective with either hand from the start, landing three clean left hands prior to the end of the first, including an uppercut that made Lawson’s legs jiggle as he returned to his corner.
Proving his toughness, Lawson landed as well, but his blows were not as potent as those of Bizier, whose penchant for getting inside and getting off first kept Lawson from gaining full extension on the majority of his blows.
In the fifth round, Bizier blasted Lawson partially through the ropes, with Burgos calling it a knockdown, determining that the ropes were all that kept Lawson on his feet.
To his credit, Lawson never officially hit the canvas. But in the end, that’s the only positive the previously unbeaten fighter could take away from a bout that Bizier thoroughly dominated.
Kevin Bizier looks on after delivering a punch that sends Fredrick Lawson through the ropes, resulting in a ruled knockdown Saturday in Miami. Bizier won by 10th-round TKO. (Robert Sullivan/Premier Boxing Champions)
