By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBO World Featherweight Champion Shakur Stevenson of Newark, New Jersey will be putting his title on the line this Saturday, Dec. 12th against fellow southpaw Toka Kahn Clary of Monrovia, Liberia. The 12-round bout from the MGM Grand bubble in Las Vegas, can be seen live in America on ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes while fans in Canada can catch it on TSN and those in the UK can see it on Premier Sports. Stevenson last fought in June when he stopped Felix Caraballo in the sixth stanza of a 10-round non-title junior lightweight fight while Clary last boxed in October when he stopped Jonathan Perez in the second round. Stevenson won the vacant title in October, 2019 when he beat Joet Gonzalez by a unanimous decision.
The 23-year-old Stevenson enters the contest a perfect mark of 14-0 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 71 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 57 per cent.
Stevenson possesses fine boxing skills and speed and has plenty of long-term championship potential in multiple weight classes. Along with beating Gonzalez and Alberto Guevara, Stevenson’s also beaten the likes of Christopher Diaz, Jesse Cris Rosales and Juan Tapia.
Clary is a 28-year-old who possesses a fine record of 28-2 with 19 Ko’s. He turned pro in 2012 and has boxed a total of 139 rounds since. His first loss came at the hands of Jhon Gemino in just 90 seconds in 2016 and a 12-round unanimous decision to Kid Galahad in 2018. Although he was born in Liberia, Clary is based in Providence, Rhode Island and has fought his entire career in America after moving there as a six-year-old. He stands 5-feet-6-inches tall with a 72.5-inch reach He’s two inches shorter than Stevenson but has a 4.5-inch edge in reach.
Clary also enjoyed a fine amateur career with a reported record of 119-11. This includes a silver medal at the 2009 National Golden Gloves competition at 125 lbs. He then won the National Gloves title the next year at 123 lbs, won several other amateur medals, competed at the 2011 Pan American Games and Olympic Trials. He also won a silver and gold medal at the 2011 and 2012 U.S. Nationals respectively.
Although he’s basically flown under the radar as a pro, Clary has good skills and power with a current knockout ratio of 61.3 per cent. His biggest pro wins so far have been against the likes of Ramsey Luna, Chris Lopez, Jose Haro, Sergio Lopez, Mario Macias, Angel Luna, Emmanuel Dominguez and Carloos Reyes. He also won the vacant NABA Featherweight Title by stopping David Berna in the second round in 2017 and took the vacant NABA-USA Super Featherweight Title with a 10-round unanimous decision over Irvin Gonzalez in August of last year.
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. Clary, also possesses fine boxing skills to go along with decent power and has an extensive amateur pedigree. Stevenson’s an excellent technical boxer with superb counter-punching abilities and unless Clary is aggressive and presses the action this may not be the mist exciting fight of the night. I’m expecting a Stevenson victory even though he’ll have to work for it.
