By Ian S Palmer
The first televised American boxing card since the Covid-19 pandemic takes place this Tuesday, June 9. Fans will see unbeaten WBO World Featherweight Champion Shakur Stevenson take on Felix Caraballo in a 10-round non-title super featherweight fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It can be seen on ESPN and ESPN Deportes in the USA while fans in Canada can catch it on TSN 1, 4 and 5. Stevenson of Newark, New Jersey won the vacant title in October in his last outing when he beat Joet Gonzalez by a majority decision. Caraballo of Mayaguez Puerto Rico last fought in January when he stopped Sergio Lopez in just 57 seconds.
The 22-year-old southpaw Stevenson enters the contest a perfect mark of 13-0 with 7 Kos. He had 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 65 rounds and has also captured the IBF Inter-Continental, WBC Continental Americas, and WBO NABO Featherweight Titles. Stevenson stands 5-feet-8-inches tall and has a 68-inch reach. He’s not known as a KO artist but has a decent knockout percentage of 54 per cent.
Stevenson possesses fine boxing skills and speed and has plenty of potential. Along with beating Gonzalez and Alberto Guevara, Stevenson’s also beaten the likes of Christopher Diaz, Jesse Cris Rosales and Juan Tapia.
There isn’t too much known about the 26-year-old Caraballo but he’s 5-feet-8-inches tall, the same height as Stevenson, with an unlisted reach and a record of 13-1-2 with 9 Kos. He’s boxed 70 rounds since turning pro back in 2014 with a current knockout ratio of 56/3 per cent. He fought to four-round draws in his first two career contests and has lost just once since then.
That defeat came at the hands of Pedro Marquez Medina via an eight-round unanimous decision in January, 2018 for the WBA Fedecaribe Featherweight Title. Caraballo had won the vacant title a year earlier with an eight-round unanimous nod over Ricardo Rodriguez and then defended it the same route over Edgardo Laboy.
After losing to Medina, Caraballo captured the WBC Fecarbox Featherweight Crown with a first-round KO over Isaias Martin Cardona Gonzales in January, 2019. He defended that belt last July with an eight-round unanimous decision over Ignacio Perrin. The odds are you haven’t heard of any of Caraballo’s opponents but he’s also taken on the likes such as Bryan Resto, Miguel Soto, and Jose Nieves.
Prediction…
Stevenson’s attitude is usually to not get hit and use his premier boxing skills and footwork to outbox his opponents. He’s quite good at it but unless you’re a purist you probably find his fights somewhat on the dull side. That means he probably won’t be affected too much by boxing without fans in the arena since they’re generally quiet when he boxes anyway. Stevenson’s an excellent technical boxer with superb counter-punching abilities. This is Caraballo’s first fight outside of his homeland and it’s bound to be a strange overall experience. The odds are stacked against Caraballo and he needs to throw a perfect punch for a stoppage. I’m expecting a routine Stevenson victory though.
