Shakur Stevenson made his debut at lightweight, and took a statement sixth round win against Shuichiro Yoshino at the Prudential Center in New Jersey on Saturday
Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs), a former featherweight and super featherweight champion, dropped Yoshino (16-1, 12 KOs) twice before referee Allen Huggins called a halt to the punishment in the sixth round.
The Tokyo native wasn’t much of a match for the American in this one. The straight left hand almost immediately found a home for Stevenson in the opening round, and he was easily able to move out of range to evade the 31-year-old’s attacks.
Stevenson, who moved up to 135lbs after missing weight before beating Robson Conceicao in September, landed with a left in the second, and shortly after, a short, straight left hand dumped Yoshino on the canvas, where he quickly rose and beat the count.
The home favourite was busting his opponent up, and a second knockdown came towards the end of the fourth, with a well-timed combination leaving the visitor on all fours, but he again beat the count.
The undefeated 25-year-old was just easily picking Yoshino apart, and the end mercifully came in the sixth, when with Yoshino under fire, the referee had seen enough, handing him his first professional defeat.
Yoshino’s team protested the decision, but it was more than a wise one.
Stevenson proceeded to call for a meeting with undisputed lightweight champion, Devin Haney who defends his titles against Vasiliy Lomachenko on May 20 in Las Vegas.
Davis blasts out Yigit
Keyshawn Davis excelled on the undercard, defending his WBO Intercontinental lightweight title, and adding the vacant WBC United States belt, with a ninth round stoppage of former world title challenger Anthony Yigit.
Davis (8-0, 6 KOs) dropped Yigit (26-3-1, 10 KOs) with a wicked body shot right at the end of the eighth and piled on more pressure in the ninth, before Benjy Esteves Jr stopped the fight.
CRUMBLED HIM 🤬@KeyshawnDavis8 | #ShakurYoshino pic.twitter.com/GAJxevWIVd
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) April 9, 2023
’The Businessman’ became just the third man to halt the Swede, behind Rolando Romero and Ivan Baranchyk and proceeded to send what appeared to be a cryptic callout to Frank Martin.
Anderson retires Arias
Jared Anderson continues to impress, and the heavyweight prospect took yet another early win, this time disposing of George Arias (18-1, 7 KOs) in the third round of a scheduled ten.
Anderson (14-0, 14 KOs) defended his WBO International title, and gained the vacant WBC United States title in the process, after Arias’ corner pulled him out.
Remaining Undercard
Damian Knyba (11-0, 7 KOs), another heavyweight hope, also took a win on this bill, stopping Curtis Harper (14-9, 9 KOs) in the eighth and final round.
At super welterweight, Troy Isley (9-0, 4 KOs) was dominant in taking an eight round points win over Roy Barringer (9-4, 6 KOs), and Bruce Carrington (7-0, 4 KOs) halted Brandon Chambers (9-1-1, 5 KOs) in the second of a scheduled eight rounds at featherweight.
A THREAT AT FEATHERWEIGHT 😤@B_Carrington1 | #ShakurYoshino pic.twitter.com/QhTMrucV78
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) April 9, 2023
Kelvin Davis (8-0, 5 KOs) remained unbeaten, taking a wide points win over six at super lightweight against Nelson Morales (3-5), while Antoine Cobb (1-0-3, 1 KO) and Jaylan Phillips (1-2-3, 1 KO) fought to a third consecutive four round draw, also at super lightweight.
