Shakur Stevenson has established himself as a supreme fighter in the lightweight division, but he only entered the weight class after he was stripped of his titles against a man who would go on to become extremely controversial.
Shakur Stevenson has yet to taste defeat after securing his first stoppage in two years upon his Saudi Arabia debut.
Stevenson is now 23-0, but has been widely criticized for some of his performances, namely Shakur vs Edwin De Los Santos, which broke the record for fewest punches on the side of Santos, who landed just 40.
Despite this, Stevenson became a three-weight champion for a reason, though was stripped of his titles ahead of one fight in 2022.
Shakur Stevenson was stripped ahead of his fight with Robson Conceicao, who won a gift decision years later
In 2022 Stevenson faced 17-1 Robson Conceicao in defense of his super-featherweight titles.
However, upon weighing in, Stevenson, who has a tattoo of Pernell Whittaker, was over the limit, and was forced to relinquish the belts there and then, leaving them only on the line for his opponent.
This didn’t matter as Stevenson, who faced Joet Gonzalez, his girlfriend’s brother, for a world title, won comprehensively via unanimous decision in what would be his final fight as a super-featherweight.
Two years later, Conceicao faced O’Shaquie Foster in an extremely close WBC world title fight, which many, including Foster, believe went completely the wrong way when Conceicao won a split decision.
Foster rectified this in the rematch, though, as he beat Conceicao in a split decision win of his own.
Shakur Stevenson’s next opponent was dropped for the first time against his latest opponent
Stevenson is set to face William Zepeda next, with the pair facing off at the Times Square event headlined by Ryan Garcia.
Zepeda is 33-0 with 27 knockouts, and only three men have heard the final bell since 2017, with only two of those facing Zepeda in a 12-round fight.
His latest fight saw Zepeda win a majority decision over Tevin Farmer in their rematch.
Farmer, who was 33-6-1 at the time of their first encounter, dropped Zepeda for the first time in his career in round four, but lost on a split decision.