Steven Butler Stops Ramadan Hiseni in Two

Steven Butler made a short night of it at the Casino de Montréal on Thursday. He knocked out Ramadan Hiseni at 1 minute and 20 seconds of the second round and won a regional WBA super middleweight belt. It was the kind of finish that renders the judges’ irrelevant. Butler, fighting in front of his home crowd in Montreal, moved to 38-5-1 with 32 knockouts. Hiseni, the Swiss visitor, had built a useful reputation for unsettling local men in Quebec. He slipped to 22-3-2 and, more tellingly, suffered the first stoppage defeat of his professional career.

The bout was scheduled for 10 rounds and featured two men on winning streaks. Command was quickly established. Butler’s strength at 168 pounds showed from the first exchange. Midway through round one, Hiseni felt the full force of Butler’s right. By the end of the session, he was in trouble. Another right snapped his head back, bloodied his nose, and left him on the brink, with his corner worried.

To Hiseni’s credit, he did not spend the interval admiring Butler’s work. He came out in the second round with more intent, trying to earn respect and, just as importantly, some breathing room. Butler did not offer either. A right hand pinned Hiseni on the ropes and froze him in place for a moment. The left hook that followed ended matters without ceremony. Hiseni went down. The referee took a sensible view of the situation. The evening was over before it had developed into anything approaching a contest. Fight reports often speak of dramatic finishes. This was less drama than certainty arriving on time.

For Butler, this was a useful night in several respects. It gave him a fourth straight victory, all four by knockout, and continued the encouraging revival he has found since leaving the middleweight limit behind to settle at super middleweight. On this evidence, the extra pounds are not harming him. He looked sturdy, sharp, and perhaps most usefully, free to punch due to the rise in weight.

Hiseni was not a harmless import. Before this fight, he went to Quebec and disrupted local ambitions, beating Alexandre Gaumont and forcing Shamil Khataev to a majority draw, enough for the WBA to call him a danger to hometown plans. That record lent this matchup intrigue: Butler was not facing a man brought in to lose. But any hope that Hiseni’s discipline would blunt the local favourite quickly vanished under Butler’s pressure. The stylistic contrast, Butler’s aggression against Hiseni’s measured approach, lasted only until Butler landed cleanly. After that, technique gave way to survival, which was brief.