Stevenson vs. Yoshino – Tonight’s Live Results From Newark

By Boxing News - 04/08/2023 - Comments

By Mark Eisner: In what turned out to be a complete mismatch, Shakur Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) made a statement on Saturday night, destroying Shuichiro Yoshino (16-1, 12 KOs) by a sixth round stoppage in a WBC lightweight title eliminator at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Stevenson was hammering Yoshino at will in the sixth round, making it necessary for the referee to stop the contest. The fight was stopped at 1:35 of the sixth. With the win, Stevenson is now the mandatory to WBC champion Devin Haney.

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Undercard results

  • Heavyweight Jared Anderson (14-0, 14 KOs) picked up his fourteenth consecutive victory with a third round corner stoppage of previously unbeaten George Arias (18-1, 7 KOs). Anderson battered the 31-year-old Arias at will. The fight was wisely stopped by Arias’ corner after round three. The time of the stoppage was at 3:00 of the third.
  • Lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis (8-0, 6 KOs) roughed up and stopped Anthony Yigit (26-3-1, 10 KOs) in the ninth round of a 10-round fight. The referee Benjy Estevez stepped in and halted the fight in the ninth due to Yigit getting battered by Keyshawn. The unbeaten Davis seemed to lose his cool with the taunting that Yigit did. The time of the stoppage was at 0:21 of the ninth.
  • Heavyweight Damian Knyba (11-0, 7 KOs) stopped journeyman Curtis Harper (14-9, 9 KOs) in the eighth round of a scheduled eight round fight. Knyba, 27, hurt Harper with a right hand to the head, causing him to turn around partially. Knyba then continued to unload with right hands until the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.
  • Undefeated middleweight Troy Isley (9-0, 4 KOs) defeated Roy Barringer (9-4, 6 KOs) by a one-sided eight round unanimous decision. The scores were 79-73, 80-72, and 80-72.
  • Featherweight Bruce Carrington (7-0, 4 KOs) stopped previously unbeaten Brandon Chambers (9-1-1, 5 KOs) in the second round of a scheduled eight-round fight. Referee Harvey Dock halted the contest.
  • Kelvin Davis (8-0, 5 KOs) boxed his way to a six-round unanimous decision over Nelson Morales (3-5) in welterweight action. The scores were 60-54, 60-54, and 59-55.  It was one-sided from start to finish, with the 26-year-old Kelvin, the brother of talented lightweight Keyshawn Davis, nailing Morales at will but lacking the power to put him away.
  • Welterweight Antoine Cobb (1-0-3, 1 KO) fought to a four-round draw against Jaylan Phillips (1-2-3, 1 KO). The scores were 40-36 Cobb, 39-37 Phillips, and 39-39. Interestingly, for both fighters, this was their third consecutive draw. What are the odds of both fighters having three successive draws in their careers?

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Shakur Stevenson vs. Shuichiro Yoshino, when will they fight tonight?

Tonight’s Stevenson vs. Yoshino event will start at 10 pm. ET/7 pm. PT on ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN+.

“You don’t fight him because you want to, but mostly because you have to. The only easy thing in boxing is calling guys out. Still, no one says the name.”

“I was struck by something you said. He barely takes one, right?” said Max Kellerman about Shakur. “Even with the best defensive fighter, everyone is going to get hit eventually, but can you hit him with a combination?

“Just like with Jared Anderson, he throws five or six, and that’s what I’m looking for in a prospect. If he gets clipped, there’s never another one behind it. What is your strongest impression of Shakur?” said Kellerman.

“The coin of the realm is the easiest thing to do is calling guys out, especially in this division,” said Kriegel. “The two biggest fights, the ones that have gathered the most notoriety, is Teo made the fight by calling out Loma. Ryan Garcia made his fight by calling out Gervonta.

“Nobody says anything about [Shakur]. Everybody calls each other out except for this kid. Again, it’s not the beating about why they’re scared of. It’s really what fighters are frightened of, which is looking silly.”

“I think it’s also stripping the brand away because, at the end of the fight, the fear, I think, would be that he will have demonstrated superiority where that is off the table. You can’t fight for that anymore,” said Max about Stevenson.

“I suspect, as Shakur says, he’s already the best pound-for-pound fighter in boxing. How does he go about proving that?”

Stevenson vs. Yoshino, how to watch?

Shakur vs.  Yoshino will be shown live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN+. The fight event begins at 10:00 pm. ET.

“They’ve got to line up and fight him. There were three guys that he was supposed to fight this guy Yoshino, and they said, ‘No, thank you,’ and Yoshino stepped up,” said Tim Bradley about Isaac Cruz, George Kambosos Jr, and William Zepeda declining to fight Shakur after the WBC offered them the bout.

“Shakur doesn’t have the punching power, which most of the time they fear. They fear guys that punch hard. They don’t want any part of that, just as you said. The thing that he has is he understands distance.

“He controls that range, and I think that’s the most feared thing in boxing,” Bradley continued about Stevenson. “Guys that understand their distance and control range all the time, they are the most feared in boxing.

“Mayweather was great at that. He fights all the fights on his terms at any range. It doesn’t matter. If he wants to step in the pocket, he can step in the pocket if he wants to step outside. Yes, he [Shakur] can embarrass you, but he can out-fight you.

“He can out-think you, he’ll out-dog you, and he’s the total package,” Bradley said.

“That’s why he doesn’t even lose rounds,” said Kriegel of Shakur. “He always has space cushion until he decides to cross it, and physically, he’s a different fighter when he came up and came out of the Olympics.”

“It’s what you saw with Floyd Mayweather. It’s what you see with the top pound-for-pound fighters. He’s thinking faster than the other guy,” said Kellerman of Shakur. “His brain is a processor like a quarterback.

“He’s processing information more than the other guy. What does he have to do? If he looks good here, is he getting [ a title shot]? Is the winner of Haney-Lomachenko, provided there’s no rematch?” said Kellerman.

“I’m not going to duck & dodge anybody. I want all the smoke. I’m the best fighter in boxing,” said Shakur. ”

Shakur Stevenson and Shuichiro Yoshino will fight tonight in a WBC lightweight title eliminator at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs) is the favorite and fights at home against the tough & powerful #4 Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs).