Former two-time world middleweight title challenger Steven Butler remains perfect at super middleweight, after logging four knockdowns en route to a ninth-round stoppage win over Stephane Fondjo Thursday night in Montreal.

Butler (37-5-1, 31 KOs) got off to the perfect start, notching a knockdown during the opening frame with an overhand right the Cameroon visitor didn't anticipate through his high defensive guard.

Although he did well to recover, Fondjo (14-2-1, 9 KOs) replied with an even more urgent second stanza to keep Butler from early overconfidence on an evening he was again slated to face Erik Bazinyan.

That snake-bitten matchup has been made and cancelled on three separate occasions in 2025, though the 30-year-old was determined to nonetheless produce a statement performance and needed a deeper engine to do so.

Having blasted beyond Fernando Farias (TKO1) and Jose de Jesus Macias (KO4) in his last two appearances, the Montreal native was made to think and had his chin checked by a series of stinging right hands in the middle rounds here.

Fondjo's resolve was admirable, though the younger man's legs were flagging and knockdowns continued diminishing his better work before a right hand, left hook combination sent Fondjo into the ropes, with referee Martin Forest having seen enough.

Elsewhere on the undercard, Ring ambassador Jhon Orobio (16-0, 14 KOs) scored a pair of second-round knockdowns before an inevitable finish came as the Montreal-based Colombian prospect breezed beyond South African veteran Xolisani Ndongeni.

Ndongeni (33-8, 19 KOs) may be a gatekeeper now, but his opposition resume sure is strong: having gone the 10-round distance with two-division world champion Devin Haney, current IBF lightweight ruler Raymond Muratalla and prospect Ernesto Mercado since 2019.