By Ian S Palmer
Original article: https://www.sportsbetlistings.com/boxing/emanuel-navarrete-vs-robson-conceicao-betting-odds-and-prediction/22216/
The vacant WBC Lightweight Title is up for grabs this Thursday, November 16th as unbeaten former WBO and WBC Jr. Lightweight Champion Shakur Stevenson of Newark, New Jersey will be taking on Edwin De Los Santos of the Dominican Republic in Las Vegas. The 12-round battle of southpaws can be seen live in America on ESPN and ESPN+ while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports Arena and Canadians can see it on TSN 5. Stevenson last fought in April when he stopped Shuichiro Yoshino in the sixth round. In his previous bout last October, Stevenson beat Robson Conceicao via a unanimous decision but was stripped of his WBO and WBC Junior Lightweight Belts for missing weight. Stevenson had won the WBO Title in October, 2021 by stopping Jamel Herring in the 10th round and added the WBC version when he beat Oscar Valdez by unanimous decision in April, 2022. De Los Santos last saw action in July when he beat Joseph Adorno via a 10-round unanimous decision to retain his WBC Continental Americas Lightweight Title.
The 26-year-old Stevenson enters the contest a perfect mark of 20-0 with 10 Ko’s. He enjoyed an excellent amateur career as he won a USA Junior National Championship and World Junior Championship in 2013. The next year he captured the USA Youth National, Youth Olympic Games and World Youth Championships. He won the USA Youth National Title in 2015 as well as the Olympic trials and qualifiers.
He then fought at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and won the silver medal as a bantamweight. Since turning pro in 2017 he’s boxed 133 rounds and has also captured the IBF Inter-Continental, WBC Continental Americas, and WBO NABO Featherweight Titles as well as the WBO Featherweight Crown. Stevenson stands 5-feet-8-inches tall and owns a 68-inch reach.
He’s certainly not not known as a KO artist by any means though as he possesses average power with a current knockout ratio of 50 per cent and has gone the distance in four of his last six fights. He displays fine boxing skills and speed and has plenty of long-term championship potential in multiple weight classes. Along with beating Yoshino, Robson Conceicao, Oscar Valdez and Jamel Herring he also has wins over Joet Gonzalez, Alberto Guevara, Jeremia Nakathila, Christopher Diaz, Jesse Cris Rosales and Juan Tapia.
The 24-year-old De Los Santos boasts a fine record of 16-1 with 14 big Ko’s. He’s boxed just 48 rounds since making his pro debut in 2018 and that’s due to recording all 14 of his stoppages by the sixth round. In fact, he’s stopped six opponents in the first round, six in the second round and one in the third and one in the sixth. He definitely has tremendous power in his fists as 87.5 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage.
De Los Santos also measures 5-feet-8-inches tall and has a 70-inch reach which gives him a two-inch reach advantage on Stevenson. The only loss on De Los Santos’ record came in January, 2022 when he dropped an eight-round split decision to William Foster III. Most of his opponents so far have been unranked fighters as he’s kicking off his pro career but he managed to win the vacant WBA Fedecaribe Super Featherweight Crown in 2019 with a 52-second stoppage of Antoni Armas.
He then added the vacant WBA Fedecaribe Lightweight Title a year later when he stopped Juan Perez in 62 seconds and the vacant WBC Latino Super Featherweight Belt in 2021 when he halted Luis Alvarez in the first round. He then captured the WBC Continental Americas Lightweight Belt by stopping Jose Valenzuela in the third round and defended it against Adorno and also has a win over Luis Acosta.
Prediction…
Stevenson’s game plan is generally to not get hit and use master skills and footwork to outbox his opponents but he did show a bit more aggression against, Valdez, Herring and Yoshino. However he’s likely going to be more cautious against De Los Santos due to his power. Stevenson’s very good defensively but unless you’re a purist you may find some of his fights to be somewhat on the dull side since he’s rarely pushed to the limit. De Los Santos is a naturally aggressive boxer who needs to stick to his strengths against Stevenson. There’s no point trying to outbox him so he should be letting his hands go at every opportunity to try and punish Stevenson. Hopefully he will attempt to take the fight to Stevenson, test his chin and make him fight back. That’s easier said than done though. De Los Santos either stops Stevenson or loses on points and neither is going to be a surprise. But I’m expecting Stevenson to utilize his superior skills to take the vacant belt by decision.
