On the night time of Thursday, November 16, 26-year-old Shakur Stevenson defeated Edwin de los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs) by unanimous resolution within the boxing ring to win the vacant WBC mild title. Heavyweight world champion, opening a brand new chapter in his boxing profession. – Cell Area in Las Vegas.
The sport lacked pleasure and the followers expressed their frustration by booing for a lot of the sport. Nonetheless, Shakur Stevenson was in a position to field and restrict his opponent’s offense, earn the victory, and improve his profession accomplishments as he’s now formally a three-division world champion.
Stevenson started his profession as a extremely regarded prospect. In June 2019, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist defeated Joete Gonzalez through unanimous resolution within the second 12 months of his profession to win the vacant WBO featherweight title and grow to be world champion.
Two years later, Stevenson moved up and defeated Jamel Herring to win the WBO tremendous featherweight title. On the night of November sixteenth, Shakur Stevenson was preventing for an opportunity to grow to be a three-division world champion in his second struggle as a light-weight.
On struggle night time, Stevenson carried out his legendary circling transfer, with Andre Ward on his left and Terrence “Bud” Crawford on his proper. The in-ring motion was nice, however the precise struggle between Stevenson and De Los Santos was extraordinarily underwhelming.
Within the first spherical, Stevenson appeared centered as he landed his jab. Halfway by way of the primary spherical, De Los Santos used his fast first step to cost ahead and lower inside, however Stevenson was able to assault and landed a strong proper hook.
De los Santos tried to land a jab to the physique within the second spherical, however Stevenson rapidly backed away to keep away from the blow a number of instances. Halfway by way of the sport, De Los Santos lastly hit the ball to Stevenson’s physique together with his left hand.
Within the third spherical, De Los Santos performed all the spherical with out very important gear as a result of his cornerback forgot to place the muzzle again in his mouth. De Los Santos nonetheless could not shut the space within the fourth spherical, so he determined to make use of a number of feints within the fifth spherical, however the tactic had no impact.
Shakur Stevenson is content material to manage the struggle together with his jab and staying sharp on protection. Stevenson used that jab all night time, however for some unusual purpose, his energy photographs had been restricted.
General, Shakur Stevenson dictated the tempo of the struggle, making it really feel like a glorified sparring match, and De Los Santos by no means tried to promote out and power Stevenson into the crossfire. Ultimately, Shakur Stevenson gained by unanimous resolution with scores of 115-113, 116-112, 116-112.
With the victory, Newark, N.J., native Shakur Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs) captured the WBC light-weight title and is now a three-division world champion. Shakur was the victor on the night time of the sixteenth, however it was a bittersweet victory.
Stevenson gained the world title once more, however he did not win over the followers, because the T-Cell Area crowd was sad with the shortage of motion within the ring. In his post-match interview, Stevenson admitted he wasn’t at his greatest.
“My efficiency tonight was horrible, and that is what I am actually centered on,” Shakur stated. “I do not really feel good, so I will dwell with it and it is okay, I received the win and that is what I need to do.”
Dominican boxer Edwin De Los Santos was clearly disillusioned with the result, however he was additionally pissed off with the best way the boxing match unfolded.
“I am right here to struggle, he is right here to run observe, and I would not say I am on his stage, I might say I am above his stage,” De Los Santos stated. “I got here to struggle tonight, I got here to struggle, however Shakur Stevenson determined to not struggle. He was given a title, however I am the folks’s champion.”
In a 12-round world title struggle, Shakur Stevenson made his opponent miss, however he did not make his opponent pay. Some speculated Stevenson might have injured his left hand since he not often used it all through the sport.
No matter whether or not he is injured or not, the underside line is that if Shakur Stevenson’s major objective is to grow to be a paid attraction, his efficiency on the night time of Nov. 16 has put him far-off from the trail to that particular objective.