Ash-Shakur Stevenson (born June 28, 1997) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, th ...

title from 2019 to 2020, the WBO

super featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New ...

title from 2021 to 2022, and the WBC and ''The Ring'' super featherweight titles in 2022. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History ...

, he represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

at the

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, winning a silver medal in the

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. Bra ...

division. As of June 2022, he is ranked as the world's best active super featherweight by the

Transnational Boxing Rankings Board The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) is an all-volunteer initiative formed in October 2012 with the intention of providing professional boxing with authoritative top-ten rankings, identifying the singular world champion of every divisio ...

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profes ...

and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Amateur career

Stevenson had a very successful career at the Youth Level, winning the 2014 AIBA Youth World Championships and

2014 Summer Youth Olympics The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports ...

. In 2015 he won the Senior U.S. Olympic Trials, thus qualifying for the U.S. boxing team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brasil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area an ...

. In Rio, Stevenson won a silver medal, losing to

Robeisy Ramírez Robeisy Eloy Ramírez Carrazana (born 20 December 1993) is a Cuban professional boxer. As an amateur, Ramírez won gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics as a flyweight and bantamweight respectively. Amateur career Summer Olympic results Lon ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

in the

gold medal match Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

. He was the highest-medaling male boxer for the

—

Claressa Shields Claressa Maria Shields (born March 17, 1995) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 20 ...

won gold for the U.S. women's team.

World Series of Boxing record

Professional career

Featherweight

Early career

Stevenson turned professional on February 9, 2017, signing a promotional contract with

Top Rank Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including Muh ...

. He signed

Andre Ward Andre Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world titles in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super) ...

as his manager. Promoter

Bob Arum Robert Arum (born December 8, 1931) is an American lawyer and boxing promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. Prior to becoming a boxing promoter, Arum was employed as an attorn ...

told Ringtv that Stevenson would likely make his debut on a stacked card at the

StubHub Center Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignit ...

in Carson,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

on April 22, 2017. Stevenson showed off his quickness, defense and punching skills as he won his first professional fight against American boxer Edgar Brito. Stevenson won via fifth round technical decision. Brito was cut on the left eye after an accidental headbutt in round 2. In round 3, he was deducted a point for intentionally headbutting Stevenson. From his own intentional headbutts, Brito suffered a cut over his right eye. The ringside physician stopped the bout. Stevenson was ahead on all three judges scorecards and won every round. In an official press release on May 3, it was confirmed that Stevenson would make his

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...

debut on undercard of the

Terence Crawford Terence Allan Crawford (born September 28, 1987) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the WBO welterweight title since 2018. Previously he held the WBO and '' Ring'' maga ...

vs. Félix Díaz world light welterweight championship fight on May 20, 2017. His opponent was announced as Argentine boxer Carlos Suarez (6-3-2, 1 KO). Stevenson won the bout after 2 minutes and 35 seconds of the first round. Suarez was knocked down before the stoppage. Stevenson's third bout took place at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska, again on the undercard of Terrence Crawford, this time his unification fight against Julius Indongo on August 19, 2017. Stevenson fought his second straight Argentine opponent, David Michel Paz (4-3) in a scheduled six-round fight. Stevenson easily outpointed Paz over 6 rounds winning 60–53 on all three scorecards. In round 5, Paz was knocked down following a straight left. Stevenson seemed comfortable and patient in letting the fight go the distance. On November 20, Top Rank confirmed 26-year-old Mexican Oscar Mendoza (4-2, 2 KOs) as Stevenson's opponent, which would take place on the undercard of Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux on December 9, 2017, at the

Madison Square Garden Theater The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden is a theater located in New York City's Madison Square Garden. It seats between 2,000 and 5,600, and is used for concerts, shows, sports, meetings, and other events. It is located beneath the main Madison ...

in New York City, New York. Stevenson's first fight for 2018 was announced on February 7 to take place at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino's Grand Theater in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is th ...

on February 16 against Juan Tapia (8-1, 3 KOs) in a scheduled 8 round bout. Stevenson easily outpointed Tapia, winning 80–72 on all three judges' scorecards. Stevenson showed defensive improvements in the fight, boxed with his jab and worked to the body. He used the distance well, allowing Tapia to land only one punch at a time.

Stevenson vs. Gonzalez

Stevenson continued his winning streak, compiling a perfect record of 12-0 before facing Joet Gonzalez for the vacant

title on October 26, 2019. Gonzalez was ranked #2 by the WBO at featherweight. The two men had a long-running feud, due to the fact that Stevenson's girlfriend of the past three years had been Gonzalez's younger sister, Jajaira. Gonzalez and his father openly disapproved of the relationship and of Stevenson. On the night, Stevenson outboxed his opponent, winning a unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the bout 119–109 in his favor. After the final bell, Stevenson attempted to reconcile with Gonzalez without success, saying, "I told him he's a helluva fighter. He didn't really want to talk to me, but it is what it is." On July 9, 2020, Stevenson vacated his WBO title without making a single title defense, as he had moved up to the

division.

Super featherweight

Stevenson vs. Clary

On December 12, 2020, Stevenson fought Toka Khan Clary. Stevenson defeated Clary convincingly, winning the fight by a wide margin on the scorecards, with all three judges scoring the contest 100–90 in his favor.

Stevenson vs. Nakathila

After improving to 15–0, Stevenson knocked Jeremiah Nakathila down with a check hook in the fourth round of their fight, en route to a shutout unanimous decision victory on June 12, 2021, in Las Vegas to win the vacant WBO interim junior lightweight title. Nakathila was ranked #2 by the WBO at super featherweight. The bout attracted criticism from pundits and analysts, citing the low number of punches thrown by either man leading to a lack of action. So few meaningful punches were thrown that the

commentators

Joe Tessitore Joseph William Tessitore (born January 1, 1971) is an American sportscaster for ABC and ESPN. He leads ESPN's world championship fight broadcasts as the blow-by-blow broadcaster for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, serves as a play-by-play announcer f ...

, Tim Bradley and

who were calling the fight criticized Stevenson during the live broadcast of the fight.

Stevenson vs. Herring

On October 23, 2021, Stevenson faced WBO junior lightweight champion

Jamel Herring Jamel William Herring (born October 30, 1985) is an American former professional boxer who held the WBO junior lightweight title from 2019 to 2021. As of November 2020, he is ranked as the world's fourth best active junior lightweight by '' The ...

at the

State Farm Arena State Farm Arena (formerly Philips Arena) is a multi-purpose arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Atlanta Hawks. It also served as home to the National Hockey Le ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. With a one-sided performance that saw Stevenson use remarkable hand speed, he became a two-division world champion when he defeated Herring via tenth-round technical knockout after being ahead on all three judges' scorecards. In the aftermath of his victory, Stevenson proclaimed, "I want to be a superstar in the sport; I'm here to last.".

Stevenson vs. Valdez

On January 16, 2022, there were negotiations that Stevenson would have a unification bout with WBC champion

Óscar Valdez Óscar Rafael Valdez Fierro Jr. (born 22 December 1990) is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former two weight world champion, holding the WBC super featherweight title from 2021 to 2022, and the WBO featherweight title from 2016 to 2019. ...

. 3 days later, the fight was confirmed for April 30 at the

MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena (originally known as the MGM Grand Garden Special Events Center) is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena located within the MGM Grand Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Sporting events From its opening on December 18, 1993 ...

, Paradise, Nevada. Stevenson dominated using his jab and footwork to outland and outwork Valdez, even scoring a knockdown in Round 6. Stevenson won by unanimous decision with scores of 117–110, 118–109 and 118–110. In doing so, Stevenson unified the WBC and vacant ''The Ring'' super featherweight titles with his WBO super featherweight belt. In the post fight interview, he said he had beat the Canelo team and opened up a potential fight with WBC lightweight champion

Devin Haney Devin Miles Haney (; born November 17, 1998) is an American professional boxer. He is the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBC title since 2019 and the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and ''Ring'' titles since June 2022. As of ...

. The fight drew in an average of 1,353,000 viewers on

and peaked at 1,440,000.

Stevenson vs. Conceicão

Stevenson's first championship defense as a unified super featherweight titlist was scheduled against the one-time WBC title challenger

Robson Conceição Robson Donato Conceição (born 25 October 1988) is a Brazilian professional boxer. He is a two-time super featherweight world title challenger, having challenged for the WBC title in 2021, and the unified WBC, WBO and '' The Ring'' titles in 20 ...

. The fight headlined an

broadcast card, which took place on September 23, 2022, at the

Prudential Center Prudential Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the men's basketball program of Seton Hal ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

. He entered the bout as a significant favorite, with most bookmakers having him at -1800 odds to win the fight. Stevenson missed weight by 1.6 lbs at the official weigh-ins leading to him being stripped of his WBC and WBO titles. In front of an audience of 10,107, Stevenson won the fight by unanimous decision, with two scorecards of 117–109 and one scorecard of 118–108. He was deducted a point in the ninth round for tossing Conceicão to the canvas. During the post fight interview, Stevenson announced his move to lightweight, citing his inability to make the junior lightweight limit. The fight drew a peak audience of 1,150,000 and averaged 1,097,000 viewers.

Lightweight

Stevenson vs. Yoshino

On November 9, 2022, the WBC ordered

Isaac Cruz Isaac Jonathan Cruz González (born May 23, 1998) is a Mexican professional boxer. As of November 2021, Cruz is ranked as the world's sixth-best active lightweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, eighth by BoxRec, and tenth by ''Th ...

to face Stevenson in a lightweight title eliminator. As Cruz refused to enter into negotiations, the WBC ordered William Zepeda to face Stevenson instead, as the next highest ranked contender. Zepeda likewise passed on the fight, as did the former unified lightweight champion

George Kambosos Jr George Kambosos Jr (born 14 June 1993) is an Australian professional boxer who held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and '' The Ring'' lightweight titles from 2021 to June 2022. As of September 2022, he's ranked as the world's number one lightweight by ...

. The order was finally accepted by Shuichiro Yoshino on January 11, 2023.

Personal life

A native of

, Stevenson is the oldest of nine siblings, born to his mother Malikah Stevenson and raised by his stepfather Shahid Guyton. Stevenson's biological father, who was of Puerto Rican descent was not a part of Shakur's life. He took up boxing at age five under his grandfather Wali Moses and cites

as his influence. According to a police report, Stevenson and fellow boxer, David Grayton, were involved in an altercation in a

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the ...

parking garage. The two fighters made comments to a group of people in a parking garage. Stevenson was arrested on July 1, 2018, and charged with

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...

assault. On June 18, 2019, Stevenson agreed to a deal where the charges would be dropped after one year of probation and 50 hours of community service. He had already paid the victims' medical expenses. Stevenson has a daughter born in 2021. He is engaged to Michelle Ragston, a rapper and singer who performs under the name "Young Lyric".

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Shakur Stevenson - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Shakur 1997 births Living people Boxers from Newark, New Jersey American male boxers Puerto Rican male boxers African-American boxers 21st-century African-American sportspeople Boxers at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics Youth Olympic gold medalists for the United States Boxers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of the United States Olympic silver medalists for the United States in boxing Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Flyweight boxers Bantamweight boxers Featherweight boxers Super-featherweight boxers World featherweight boxing champions World super-featherweight boxing champions World Boxing Organization champions World Boxing Council champions The Ring (magazine) champions