By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten former WBO World Featherweight Champion Shakur Stevenson of Newark, New Jersey will be fighting for the vacant WBO interim Junior Lightweight title this Saturday, June 12 when he takes on Jeremia Nakathila of Namibia. Stevenson last fought in December when he beat fellow southpaw Toka Kahn Clary by a wide unanimous decision. Nakathila also boxed in December when he stopped Emmanuel Amos in the second round to defend his WBO Global Super Featherweight Title. The 12-round bout from the Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas, can be seen live in America on ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes while fans in Canada can catch it on TSN 4.
The 23-year-old Stevenson enters the contest a perfect mark of 15-0 with 8 Ko’s. 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 81 rounds and has also captured the IBF Inter-Continental, WBC Continental Americas, and WBO NABO Featherweight Titles. Stevenson stands 5-feet-7-inches tall and has a 68-inch reach. He’s not known as a KO artist but has a decent knockout percentage of 53.3 per cent.
Stevenson possesses fine boxing skills and speed and has plenty of long-term championship potential in multiple weight classes. Along with beating Joet Gonzalez and Alberto Guevara, Stevenson’s also beaten the likes of Christopher Diaz, Jesse Cris Rosales and Juan Tapia.
Nakathila is a 31-year-old who possesses a fine record of 21-1 with 17 Ko’s. He turned pro in 2013 and has boxed a total of 94 rounds since. His lone loss came at the hands of Evgeny Chuprakov by 12-round majority decision in 2016 for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Super Featherweight Title. Nakathila has never fought outside of Africa and it would be hard for the average boxing fan to recognize any of his previous opponents.
However, since turning pro he’s won the WBO African Super Featherweight Title and defended it several times and captured the vacant WBO Global Super Featherweight Crown which he’s also defended a few times. Unfortunately, Nakathila has an unlisted reach but we do know he possesses pretty good power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 77.3 per cent.
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 may find his fights somewhat on the dull side since he’s rarely been pushed to the limit or even seriously challenge. He may be adding titles to his collection but fans want to see him take on world-class opponents. Nakathila is basically an unknown but it’s evident he has the power to cause some damage if he connects. Not much else is known about him though and I’m expecting a Stevenson victory even though he might have to work for it if Nakathila’s better than we all expect.
