Stevenson takes on the lightweights

By Vincent Morin

Talented American counter-attacker Shakur Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) will headline the upcoming Top Rank gala this Thursday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For the occasion, the former WBO featherweight (126 lbs) and WBC and WBO super featherweight (130 lbs) world champion will try to get his hands on a world title in a third weight category by facing the tough Dominican Edwin De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KO) for the vacant WBC lightweight title (135 lbs).

This will be the second matchup in this category for Stevenson, an Olympic silver medalist at the 2016 Rio Games.

He had to give up his WBC and WBO super featherweight belts on September 23, 2022 after missing the weight in preparation for his shock against the Brazilian Robson Conceicao, which he still won by unanimous decision.

An Olympic gold medalist in Rio, Conceicao (17-2, 8 KOs) will also fight Thursday in the main support bout of the event. He will try to steal the WBO world super featherweight crown from the current champion, Mexican Emanuel Navarrete (38-1, 31 KO).

This will be a second title defense for the latter, an aggressive volume boxer with an unorthodox style who previously held the WBO super bantamweight (122 lbs) and featherweight (126 lbs) world belts.

On the undercard, we also note the presence of hopefuls Brian Norman Jr (24-0, 19 KOs), Troy Isley (10-0, 4 KOs), Abdullah Mason (10-0, 8 KOs) and Emiliano Vargas (7- 0.6 KO).

Association with Venum

The Top Rank firm also announced on Monday a several-year partnership with the Venum company. The latter also have an agreement with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) since 2021.