By Brian Webber: Former two-division world champion Shakur Stevenson wants to make a “statement” tonight in his WBC lightweight title eliminator against Shuichiro Yoshino to let the fans and the top fighters in the 135-lb division know that he’s here.
Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs) will fight in front of his home crowd against the unbeaten Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs) in their event, which starts at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT on ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN+.
In moving up from super featherweight, Shakur has discovered that the top fighters at 135, Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney, William Zepeda, Isaac Cruz, and George Kambosos Jr, aren’t in a rush to fight him.
What this means is that Stevenson will need to force a title shot against undisputed lightweight champion Haney so that he can face him and have the hardware to get the fights against the top contenders so that he can increase his popularity.
The 2016 Olympic silver medalist Stevenson’s best career wins thus far have come against these fighters: Oscar Valdez, Jamel Herring, Joet Gonzalez, Robson Conceicao, Jeremiah Nakathila, and Toka Khan Clary.
Adding the 31-year-old Yoshino to the list tonight will be a good name to go along with the other fighters Shakur has beaten as a pro during his six-year professional career.
Earlier in Stevenson’s career, he was criticized by fans for his elusive, defensive-first-oriented fighting style, which many felt was a Mayweather-lite style, involving a lot of potshots and pulling back when attacked.
It was challenging to watch Shakur because he fought like an amateur as if he focused on scoring points rather than going to war. Shakur often says his philosophy is to “hit and not get hit,” so fans have viewed him as painfully dull to watch.
However, in Steevenson’s last two fights against Robson Conceicao and Oscar Valdez, he’s shown more willingness to stand his ground and trade with his opponents. Unfortunately, Shakur still uses his pull-back method, forcing his opponents to chase him around the ring.
“My grandfather talk me the art of boxing, which is to hit and not get hit. Even when I got hit, I was like, ‘I got my defense, so I’m not going to get hit no more,'” said Shakur Stevenson to Djsussone.
“I’m very excited. I want to put on a great show. I want to put on a great performance for the boxing world,” said Shakur about his fight tonight against Yoshino. “This is my first fight at 135 pounds, so it’s about making a statement to let everyone know that I’m here. This is like my third fight at the Prudential Center.
“I get nervous days before. I’ll be nervous today, but then when it comes to fight night, ‘I’m here.’ I put the work in and know how I worked and how hard I trained. So, I trusted things in how I did and what I did that on fight night everything was going to be A-ok.
“I got over that as a kid,” said Shakur when asked if he still gets nervous fighting in front of people. “When you’re fighting in the amateurs and the shows, it’s your family and a whole bunch of other people there watching you. I been got over the nerves of people there watching.
Stevenson vs. Yoshino, how to watch, start time?
“I look up to Floyd, Andre Ward, Terence Crawford, and Sugar Ray Leonard. I watch all the greats. I’m a student of the game,” continued Stevenson. “[Mike] Tyson was a beast, but it’s just style-wise, I look up to them because I try to emulate their style. I don’t try to emulate too much Tyson into my game.
“I like [Evander] Holyfield. That’s who I was really a fan of during the Tyson era. I go back to YouTube and look at their training.
