Photo via Top Rank Boxing PR
Shakur Stevenson Returns Home April 8th vs Shuichiro Yoshino
Shakur Stevenson returns home on April 8th for a high-stakes clash at 135 pounds. Unbeaten former two-weight world champion Shakur Stevenson tests skills with Shuichiro Yoshino in a 12-round WBC lightweight title eliminator. Stevenson vs Yoshino goes Saturday, April 8th at Prudential Center in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
Stevenson-Yoshino broadcasts live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. eastern time/ 7 p.m pacific time.
“Shakur Stevenson is one of the most gifted fighters I’ve had the pleasure of promoting, and I look forward to seeing him once again fight in front of his incredible hometown fans in Newark,” stated Top Rank chairman Bob Arum. “Yoshino is a tough fighter and won’t be deterred by the hostile crowd.”
Shakur Stevenson
Stevenson is a former featherweight and junior lightweight world champion who looks to improve to 20-0 as a pro. He returns home following last September’s thorough victory versus Robson Conceição. Conceição doggedly went the distance, but Stevenson dominated at the Prudential Center. Stevenson now readies to return to one of the sport’s most raucous hometown crowds as the partisan favorite.
Stevenson captured the WBO junior lightweight title with a 10th-round stoppage vs Jamel Herring in October 2021. He then unified the division with a compelling display over twelve rounds against WBC king Oscar Valdez the following April. Those victories propelled the 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist to the top 10 of many pound-for-pound lists. Stevenson now sets his sights on becoming king in a third weight class and vaulting toward a higher place atop the pound-for-pound throne.
“I am taking over the lightweight division and my run will start on April 8th in Newark. Shuichiro Yoshino is an undefeated fighter who was willing to step up and fight me when so many fighters were scared,” Stevenson quipped. “My last fight at the Prudential Center was just the start of what I’m building in Jersey. We are going to pack the Prudential Center again and show the world who the future of boxing really is.”
Stevenson vs Yoshino
Yoshino is the WBC’s number five contender and is a former Japanese lightweight champion. He compiled a 104-20 amateur record and is 16-0 as a pro with 12 KOs. Following seven defenses of his Japanese title, Yoshino ascended the international rankings in a huge campaign last year. Last April, he bested former world champion Masayuki Ito on points.
He followed up the bloody technical decision win over Ito in November with a sixth-round finish over Masayoshi Nakatani, best known for showdowns against Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko. Yoshino is fighting outside of Japan for the first time and aims to play spoiler for Stevenson’s homecoming.
“I am very honored to be fighting in the U.S. for the first time. I’m extremely focused and motivated,” Yoshino stated. “I’m looking forward to fighting the great two-division champion, Shakur Stevenson, in his hometown of Newark. I’ll be training hard leading up to the fight and look forward to showing the fans an exciting victory!”
