Lucian Bute stopped Jesse Brinkley at 2:48 of the ninth round to retain his super middleweight title Friday in Montreal, Bute’s adopted hometown.

Bute (27-0, 22 knockouts) controlled the fight from the onset against a determined, but overmatched foe and gradually wore him down.

The southpaw from Romania, who has relocated to Canada, put Brinkley (35-6, 22 KOs) down toward the end of the fifth round with a left to the belly, which obviously was very painful. Brinkley survived.

Bute cut Brinkley and put him down again with a left to the head in the eighth round. Again, the challenger survived. Finally, Bute landed an uppercut to Brinkley’s face in the ninth, knocking him flat on his back. This time he couldn’t fight on and the bout was stopped.

Bute has now successfully defended his belt six times. He has fought in Montreal in 14 of his past 15 fights; the 15th was in Quebec City.

THE RING’s No. 1-rated 168-pounder is a likely candidate to fight the winner of the Super Six World Boxing Classic sometime next year. Or a bout with fellow Canadian Jean Pascal at light heavyweight would be lucrative north of the border.

Brinkley, from Yerington, Nev., had won nine consecutive fights going into Saturday but had not faced an opponent with anywhere near the ability of Bute.