A Champion's Journey
Shakur Stevenson made his mark as an amateur superstar, culminating the Silver Medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro. Yet the ultra-competitive Stevenson wasn’t happy with silver and quickly focused his attention on hardware in the professional ranks. With a stellar amateur career and a boxing IQ that surpasses much more experienced professionals, he wasted no time going after his first world championship.
Stevenson's first world title victory came in 2019 as he dominated Joet Gonzalez over 12 rounds to take a unanimous decision victory over the familiar foe. As the WBO featherweight title belt was wrapped around his waist, Stevenson enjoyed a dream realized; He was now a world champion.
He hoped to make the first title defense of his featherweight belt in March of 2020, but the bout was cancelled just 48 hours before the fight due to the COVID 19 pandemic that enveloped the country. After the fight’s cancellation, Stevenson made the decision to move up to the 130-pound weight division.
He opened the Top Rank bubble in the summer of 2020 with a knockout victory over Felix Caraballo. He scored another win in the solitude of the bubble in December of 2020, outboxing veteran Toka Kahn-Clary for his 15th professional victory.
Two-division world champion at only 24
Stevenson’s prior success earned him the number one contender spot in both the WBO and WBC standings and set him up for a title shot against reigning WBO champion and fellow U.S. Olympian Jamel Herring. Before the two could lock in their own meeting, Stevenson dispatched of Jeremiah Nakathila in June of 2021 with a unanimous decision win. Finally, in the match vs Jamel Herring, Stevenson stopped Herring in the 10th round of their WBO super featherweight world title bout in October to become a two-division world champ.
On to the next.
Always one to take on the biggest challenges, he set sights on fellow two-division champion Oscar Valdez. The two met in a highly anticipated bout on April 30 and Stevenson won a wide, unanimous decision over the previously undefeated Valdez to take his WBC belt and become a unified champion.
