IGNORING his undoubted talent for a second, there’s a starvation and drive to Shakur Stevenson which separates him from lots of the different gifted younger Individuals we now have seen threaten to take the boxing world by storm solely to ultimately relaxation on their laurels and cruise into retirement.
Not content material with successful only one title in a single weight class, Stevenson is the sort to get his enterprise achieved after which transfer on. Briefly, he doesn’t like to stay round. Way more interesting to him, it could seem, is the thought of chasing challenges and discovering himself in large, profitable, and compelling fights.
His battle this Saturday (April 8) in opposition to Shuichiro Yoshino might not fall into that bracket, however, actually, on condition that it’s Stevenson’s first battle as a light-weight, it may be thought-about an introduction to one thing better.
For the 25-year-old, having gained titles as a featherweight and super-featherweight, is now seeking to do the identical at 135 kilos, which implies in fact he has set himself on a collision course with the likes of Devin Haney, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Gervonta Davis, and Ryan Garcia. To battle any of these males would symbolize an enormous deal for Stevenson and certainly would symbolize the type of alternative required to show a high quality prospect with titles to his title into an enormous star in America.
That, one suspects, is the eventual purpose for Stevenson at light-weight, but first he should preserve his unbeaten report – at the moment 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 completely in his homeland and is a pure light-weight. In that weight class he has gained quite a lot of regional titles however has by no means crushed anybody on the extent of Stevenson. His greatest wins to this point, in actual fact, had been in all probability his final two: an eleventh spherical technical resolution win over Masayuki Ito in April final 12 months, which he adopted in November with a sixth-round stoppage of Masayoshi Nakatani, somebody we now have 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 had 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, can 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 unique path. In the meantime, the subsequent man in line, William Zepeda, was advised by his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, that he needed extra time to construct the battle 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 sometimes taken by these hungriest for them somewhat than those that, on credentials not less than, deserve them. For Stevenson, although, a person on a mission, all he should do is give attention to sustaining the extent we now have 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 try this it’s exhausting to see what Yoshino can try this 19 others had been unable to do within the presence of the New Jersey native. Ought to he try this one expects Stevenson, a southpaw with all the abilities, to create a large lead and by no means let go of it till he hears the ultimate bell.
