Shakur Stevenson has a makeup date Saturday in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey — as in, he needs to make up with boxing fans who were bored to tears watching his last bout.
In an admittedly “bad performance” last November, Stevenson spent 12 rounds keeping his distance from Edwin De Los Santos but doing just enough to win the vacant WBC lightweight world championship via unanimous decision. The tediousness was best defined by this stat of stagnancy: Stevenson failed to register double-digit punches in any round.
The boos that night in Las Vegas were deserved. The brutal criticism on social media was predictable. The subdued performance by one of boxing’s pound-for-pound talents was stunning in its resolute impotence.
In Saturday’s WBC lightweight title defense against Artem Harutyunyan, Stevenson is under pressure to prove he is just as entertaining as the other champions in his weight class, namely archival Gervonta Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko. Stevenson’s impending free agency should force him to put on a show at the Prudential Center. A knockout win would restore his stock in the eyes of promoters who are interested in adding the former Olympic silver medalist and three-class world champion to their stable.
The 27-year-old Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs) should defeat the 33-year-old Harutyunyan (12-1, seven KOs). The question is how Stevenson — listed as high as a -3000 favorite (DraftKings) — will achieve victory.
The pick — Shakur Stevenson to win in rounds 7-12 (+175, BetMGM)
Harutyunyan has never fought for a belt. His walk-forward, aggressive style will put him in danger of getting relentlessly countered by Stevenson. The question is how committed the champ will be to closing the show.
Seven months before the De Los Santos debacle, Stevenson demonstrated his KO power at 135 pounds by scoring a sixth-round TKO of Shuichiro Yoshino. Will that Shakur show up against Harutyunyan?
I’ve gone back and forth on whether Stevenson will go for the knockout. I think he will because he has a lot to prove. He’ll be sharp and accurate, rack up the rounds and then walk down a battered Harutyunyan for the finish in the later rounds.
I’m playing it safe in the round group betting market, opting for a wager that covers the last six rounds. You could roll the dice even more by choosing a Stevenson victory in rounds 9-12 (+300, BetMGM) or rounds 10-12 (+380, DraftKings).
Don’t let us down again, Shakur.
Boxing record: 13-11, -1.32 units