IGNORING his undoubted ability for a second, there’s a starvation and drive to Shakur Stevenson which separates him from lots of the different gifted younger People we’ve seen threaten to take the boxing world by storm solely to finally relaxation on their laurels and cruise into retirement.
Not content material with successful only one title in a single weight class, Stevenson is the type to get his enterprise completed after which transfer on. Briefly, he doesn’t like to stay round. Much more interesting to him, it might seem, is the concept of chasing challenges and discovering himself in massive, profitable, and compelling fights.
His struggle this Saturday (April 8) in opposition to Shuichiro Yoshino could not fall into that bracket, however, actually, on condition that it’s Stevenson’s first struggle as a light-weight, it may be thought of an introduction to one thing larger.
For the 25-year-old, having received titles as a featherweight and super-featherweight, is now trying to do the identical at 135 kilos, which implies after all he has set himself on a collision course with the likes of Devin Haney, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Gervonta Davis, and Ryan Garcia. To struggle any of these males would symbolize an enormous deal for Stevenson and certainly would symbolize the form of alternative required to show a top quality prospect with titles to his identify into an enormous star in America.
That, one suspects, is the eventual aim for Stevenson at light-weight, but first he should preserve his unbeaten report – at present at 19-0 (9) – intact in opposition to Yoshino, a Japanese fighter who can also be unbeaten at 16-0 (12).
A professional since 2015, the 31-year-old Yoshino has fought solely in his homeland and is a pure light-weight. In that weight class he has received a wide range of regional titles however has by no means crushed anybody on the extent of Stevenson. His finest wins to this point, the truth is, have been in all probability his final two: an eleventh spherical technical resolution win over Masayuki Ito in April final yr, which he adopted in November with a sixth-round stoppage of Masayoshi Nakatani, somebody we’ve seen share a hoop with Vasyl Lomachenko, who stopped him in 9 rounds, and Felix Verdejo, whom Nakatani stopped in 9 rounds in 2020. These have been strong scalps for Yoshino and collectively they’ve served to place him in line for a shot on the WBC light-weight title, which, he understands, might be his ought to he upset Stevenson in Newark, New Jersey this weekend.
The WBC had beforehand ordered an eliminator between Stevenson and Isaac Cruz, just for Cruz to resolve to take a distinct path. In the meantime, the following man in line, William Zepeda, was informed by his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, that he needed extra time to construct the struggle between him and Stevenson into one thing extra financially interesting.
That’s simply the way in which boxing is in 2023, I suppose, with alternatives usually taken by these hungriest for them fairly than those that, on credentials at the least, deserve them. For Stevenson, although, a person on a mission, all he should do is concentrate on sustaining the extent we’ve seen from him in consecutive fights in opposition to Robson Conceição (UD 12), Óscar Valdez (UD 12), and Jamel Herring (TKO 10). Ought to he do this it’s arduous to see what Yoshino can do this 19 others have been unable to do within the presence of the New Jersey native. Ought to he do this one expects Stevenson, a southpaw with all the talents, to create a large lead and by no means let go of it till he hears the ultimate bell.
