Eleider Alvarez cemented his position as the mandatory challenger for WBC light heavyweight titleholder Adonis Stevenson tonight, beating former super middleweight titleholder Lucian Bute by fifth round TKO in Quebec City.

In the opening two rounds, Bute (32-4-1, 25 KO) and Alvarez (22-0, 11 KO) fought at about a 50-50 tempo, but heads clashed at the end of the second and changed the fight. Bute was cut on the bridge of the nose, but Alvarez was cut on the forehead, and was very unhappy about it. In the third, he fought emotionally, and Bute was able to use that against him as the round wore on.

We saw some more fire in the fourth. Alvarez, not known as a fiery competitor so far in his career, displayed a lot of emotion, a rare thing for him. He skirted the line between too emotional, talking trash constantly at Bute, and effective energy, coming at Bute with superior hand speed.

Bute, though, was not at all intimidated by the amped up Alvarez, and filled the gaps in the fight with better action.

Then came the fifth round. With both men fighting offensive-minded, Alvarez caught Bute with a chopping right hand that the veteran Romanian-Canadian never saw coming, and down he went. Bute got to his feet, but was on such unsteady legs that referee Marlon B. Wright rightly waved it off, giving Alvarez the victory.

Now the question is simple: will Adonis Stevenson be next for the transplanted Colombian? Hopefully, yes. He showed some fire in this fight, and was more impressive here than he’s been when not tested against the likes of Isidro Prieto and Robert Berridge.

As for Bute, he’s 36 years old and is 2-4-1 in his last seven fights, which really should be 2-5. He hasn’t beaten a real contender in years, and even when he was a top super middleweight, he was largely steered away from the true top fighters in the division. He’s on borrowed time at this point, and we could see him step away sooner than later.