On Saturday night Top Rank Boxing main event, the No. 3 ranked WBC lightweight fighter in the world Shakur Stevenson took care of business. The young remerging fighter stopped Shuichiro Yoshino in the 6th round.
Yoshino came into Saturday night’s main event as a contender in the division. However, it was early on into the fight we could see the skill level difference. Shakur Stevenson controlled the fight from round 1 to round 6.
Stvenson, pound-for-pound one of the best in the world, dropped Yoshino in the 2nd and 4th rounds of the fight. The first knockdown was a secured by a short left to the chin. Knocking Yoshino to the canvas for only the second time in his career.
Stevenson stalked Yoshino in the 3rd round with quick power punches that seem to connect to Yoshino’s head every time. Stevenson landed 50% of the punches he threw, and many were power punches.
In the 4th, Stevenson connected again on a 3-piece combo knockdown. Yoshino barely made it out the round. By the sixth round, referee Allen Huggins had seen enough. Steven had connected on another power shot to Yoshino’s head which lead to the stoppage.
Stevenson, now 20-0 with 10 KOs, is now the new No.1 contender and mandatory challenger for the winner of the Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lamachenko on May 20th.
The fan favorite would be for Haney to take care of business against Lamachenko in May so we can see Stevenson vs Haney. That is the kind of fight that will make headlines.
Nonetheless, Stevenson’s performance on Saturday night proves that he is one of the elite fighters of this generation.