Three-weight world champion Shakur Stevenson retired, then quickly circled back faster than Teofimo Lopez, left agitated by the politics of a sport he’s known his entire life. Now 26 and settled as one of the four titlists at 135lbs, the Olympic silver medallist must look inwardly if he’s to live up to the sky-high greatness many have long tipped him for. Will his last display prompt that?
Well, it was a world title win…
A rewind back to Nov 16, 2023 — 115-113, 116-112, 116-112: Shakur Stevenson bt. Edwin De Los Santos via unanimous decision, wins WBC lightweight title and becomes a three-weight world champion
With just ten punches landed between them in the first stanza, De Los Santos’ forward pressure needed to be sustainable if the underdog wanted to prevail.
The Dominican’s explosive bursts were mostly met with fresh air but Stevenson acknowledged his power early and was happy boxing off the back foot to counteract that threat without getting hit nor wading himself into danger to tee off either.
“He needs De Los Santos to slow down, he’s even having trouble landing his jab,” was Tim Bradley’s observation early in round three as boos and whistling began to grow within the Las Vegas crowd, unsatisfied with little noteworthy action just yet.
Some much-needed context, if you will
This special ESPN card was scheduled for a Thursday evening, to avoid clashing with the Formula 1 Vegas race weekend from Friday-Sunday in the same place.
Thousands of tourists across the world would’ve been in town for motorsport and wanted a show, so this was an additional attraction as part of the week’s festivities.
De Los Santos boxed the entire round without his mouthguard, referee Harvey Dock and the ringside commission representatives seemingly unaware, and that rather told the story in what soon proved a painful affair to sit through. I scrapped my live report and have instead decided to publish a feature three months later.
In the fourth, he swung wildly upon occasion as patience was wearing thin but Stevenson didn’t make him pay for missing with output of his own.
Instead, the 24-year-old landed a pair of body punches but little more than that, as the need for urgency again became increasingly clear in the fifth and sixth.
Both are southpaws and neither wanted to be first to commit to an attack, wary of being counterpunched, yet this awkward stalemate just made for poor viewing. 50 punches combined, through six rounds, was an average of 2.78 per minute.
Start throwing combinations was the clear command from Stevenson’s corner before round eight but that instruction fell on deaf ears, as his single jabs did enough to keep De Los Santos on his toes and aware from chaining attacks together.
The referee warned both for punching behind the head in their clinch exchanges during the latter stages of round nine, one where the crowd sarcastically cheered once the pair exchanged punches in the pocket for what felt like the first time.
De Los Santos’ corner read him the riot act before R10, but again more of the same followed from both. He landed a neat right hook in the final round, but by this point it was clear Stevenson had won – based on his cumulative jab work, nothing else.
That’s what makes his subsequent frustration so, well, preventable.
Had Shakur blown his highly-rated Dominican opponent away in a few rounds with a highlight reel knockout, or boxed similar to how he did against Jamel Herring two years earlier to become a two-weight world champion, you’d give him some grace.
Instead, he got emotional over a situation he had nothing to do with – a potential future opponent in WBO super-featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete against a long-standing contender in Denys Berinchyk waiting patiently for a world title shot.
So now while his peers – Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia is set for April 20 – are set to attract an audience this spring, he’ll be watching on the sidelines again waiting to see how Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. George Kambosos Jr plays out for the vacant IBF title three weeks later, undobutedly targeting the victor in a unification bout.
If only it were that simple.
Lomachenko, who turned 36 on Saturday, doesn’t have much left in the tank while Teofimo Lopez’s conqueror George Kambosos Jr hasn’t exactly got the world-level cache since then to make him an impressive scalp on the resume.
Light-welterweight is where the bulk of his contemporaries now lie, and he’ll encounter more of the same questions over how he matches up against hard-hitters if he decides to move up again, rather than clean out and reign supreme at 135lbs.
It’s where unbeaten trio Gervonta Davis, William Zepeda and Frank Martin – not to mention his friend Keyshawn Davis – all remain while Vaquero will soon join them.
Full undercard results, back on Nov. 16
Welterweight: Brian Norman Jr bt. Quinton Randall via points (99-91, 97-93, 99-91)
Bantamweight: Floyd Diaz bt. Max Ornelas via split decision
Middleweight: Troy Isley bt. Vladimir Hernandez via UD (77-75 x 3)
Super-middleweight: Giovanni Sarchioto bt. Lucas de Abreu via R3 TKO
Lightweight: Abdullah Mason bt. Jose Cardenas via R2 TKO
Lightweight: Emiliano Vargas bt. Brandon Mendoza via R2 KO
Heavyweight: Jackson Murray UD6 Steven Torres (60-53 x 3)
Light-welterweight: Hugo Micallef bt. Sergio Odabai via R4 TKO (retirement)
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via ESPN unless hyperlinked
Mo and Sports 