By Ian S Palmer
There’s a WBC Lightweight Title eliminator on tap this Saturday, April 8th as unbeaten former WBO and WBC Jr. Lightweight Champion Shakur Stevenson will be taking on undefeated Shuichiro Yoshino of Japan in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey. The 12-rounder can be seen live in America on ESPN and ESPN+ while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports Action and those in Canada can see it on TSN 2. Stevenson last fought in September when he 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 last April. Yoshino last saw action in November when he stopped Masayoshi Nakatini in the sixth round in an upset to retain his WBO Asia Pacific Lightweight Title.
The 25-year-old Stevenson is a southpaw who enters the contest a perfect mark of 19-0 with 9 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 127 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-7-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 47.4 per cent and has gone the distance in four of his last five fights. He displays fine boxing skills and speed and has plenty of long-term championship potential in multiple weight classes. Along with beating Conceicao, Valdez and Herring he also has wins over Joet Gonzalez, Alberto Guevara, Jeremia Nakathila, Christopher Diaz, Jesse Cris Rosales and Juan Tapia.
Yoshino is a 31-year-old who enters the fight with a perfect record of 16-0 with 11 Ko’s and has boxed 93 rounds since turning pro in 2011 following his amateur career. He stands 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 68-inch reach which means he has a two-inch height advantage on Stevenson with the same reach. Yoshino has more than enough power on his punches as he possesses a current knockout ratio of 75 per cent and has stopped 10 of his last 12 opponents.
Since turning pro he’s captured the Japanese Lightweight Title in 2017 and has defended it seven times and has also won the Oriental and Pacific Federation Lightweight Crown. Along with beating Nakatani he also beat former WBO Super Featherweight Champion Masayuki Ito last April via an 11-round technical decision. Yoshino is a fan-friendly boxer and will be fighting for the first time outside of Japan as a pro.
Prediction…
Stevenson’s game plan is generally to not get hit and use his premier boxing skills and footwork to outbox his opponents but he did show a bit more aggression against Oscar Valdez and Jamel Herring. He’s very good defensively but unless you’re a purist you may find his fights somewhat on the dull side since he’s rarely pushed to the limit. Yoshino is a naturally aggressive boxer and a natural lightweight who will hopefully take the fight to Stevenson, test his chin and make him reply in kind. If not, it could be a bit of a chess match. I’m expecting the younger Stevenson to utilize his superior skills though to remain unbeaten.
