Shakur Stevenson still waiting for somebody to give him competition
Maybe Edwin De Los Santos will be the one when they meet for the vacant WBC lightweight title on Thursday night
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Shakur Stevenson, who was tabbed for stardom from the moment he turned pro following his silver medal run at the 2016 Olympics, has lived up to all of the hype.
At age 26, he has won world titles in two divisions — featherweight and unified titles at junior lightweight — and is making his way up most pound-for-pound lists, and with good reason.
He has beaten a variety of quality opponents and not only wins his fights with ease, but has rarely lost rounds thanks to his speed, skills and defensive prowess on a Floyd Mayweather level.
So, Stevenson was blunt, yet honest, when asked if he felt like he has ever gotten any true competition so far in his professional career, including in one-sided wins over opponents such as Shuichiro Yoshino, Robson Conceicao, Oscar Valdez, Jamel Herring and Joet Gonzalez.
“Nah, ain’t nobody give me no competition in a fight yet, but that’s not to take away from no fighter,” Stevenson recently told Fight Freaks Unite. “I think they all are all really good fighters but I think I was just levels above them. I don’t think nobody gave me real competition yet.”
Now it is up to fellow southpaw Edwin De Los Santos to see if he can compete with Stevenson when they meet for the vacant WBC lightweight title on Thursday (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10:30 p.m. ET with preliminaries on ESPN+ beginning at 5:40 p.m. ET) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix will take place on Saturday. ESPN is also airing the race and wanted another sports event in the city this week, so it asked Top Rank to put the fight on Thursday night.
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