On the evening of July 6th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson defeated Artyom Harutyunyan (12-2, 7 KOs) by unanimous decision to successfully defend his title.
Stevenson, as many expected, won by a large margin on the scorecards, and despite winning the bout handily, the boxing world criticized him for not appreciating his performance.
Two-division world champion Shakur Stevenson made his lightweight debut in April 2023. Stevenson's first fight in his new weight class was a success, scoring a sixth-round TKO victory over Shuichiro Yoshino.
Shakur Stevenson has been kept busy as Vasiliy Lomachenko, George Kambosos Jr., Isaac “Pit Bull” Cruz and Frank Martin all turned down the opportunity to face Stevenson inside the ring.
MMA fans nicknamed Stevenson “the Boogie Man” because other challengers had always turned down the chance to face him, but when Edwin de los Santos stepped up to challenge Stevenson, Stevenson finally had an opponent.
On November 16, 2023, Shakur Stevenson stepped into the ring to fight Edwin De Los Santos for the vacant WBC World Lightweight Title. It was a boring bout, as Stevenson hesitated to attack and De Los Santos struggled to get out of the ring.
After 12 rounds, Shakur Stevenson won by unanimous decision. In a post-fight interview, De Los Santos ruefully explained how he ended up fighting Stevenson, saying that Stevenson was there for the athletics.
The Stevenson-De Los Santos fight was heavily criticized, with many in the boxing community blaming Stevenson for the lackluster fight, Stevenson admitted to a poor performance, and promoter Bob Arum revealed that Shakur had been fighting through a shoulder injury.
Shakur Stevenson got a chance to bounce back in his first title defense against Artyom Harutyunyan on the night of July 6. In the opening round, Stevenson and Harutyunyan continued to probe each other.
In the second round, Harutyunyan tried to come forward and be more aggressive, but he couldn't land any notable strikes and there was little movement in the ring. In the third round, his movement was also limited, and the fans began to boo.
Shakur picked up the pace with sharp first punches and some double punches regularly throughout the following rounds. From the sixth through the ninth rounds, Stevenson had chances to go for the knockout, but instead of becoming more aggressive, he was content to just win the rounds.
In the 11th round, some of Shakur's home fans began booing while others left the arena. Stevenson held back in the 12th round, winning the round and winning the bout by unanimous decision. Shakur was victorious, but he didn't get to say his famous line:
Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) is a highly skilled ring technician with all the tools, but unfortunately, his lack of charm and killer instinct has earned him the label of a boring fighter.
Shakur Stevenson's matches are classified as boring because he is at a higher level than his opponents and can easily utilize the hit-but-not-get-hit strategy. Shakur will put up some entertaining matches in the future when he faces opponents at his level.
When Shakur Stevenson faces an opponent with the same ring IQ and skill level, he will have no choice but to fight. On a night when he faces either Vasiliy Lomachenko or Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Shakur is sure to put on a very entertaining fight.
