Shakur Stevenson became a bona fide pound-for-pound fighter in his last two fights.
Last October, he made veteran 130-pound champion Jamel Herring look like an amateur in a 10-round stoppage. Then, outdoing himself last April, he outpointed the previously undefeated Oscar Valdez in a title unification fight to win a lopsided decision.
Next up for 2016 Olympic silver medalist Robson Conceicao on Friday at the Prudential Center in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, NJ (ESPN, ESPN+).
“It was a beautiful display of boxing,” Stevenson told RingTV.com, referring to the victory over Valdez. “I think I showed a lot of skill in that fight. I disarmed it. That was the biggest fight of my career and I did everything I was supposed to do.
“I did everything I said I was going to do. He is a great fighter, but he had better opposition.”
Conceicao (17-1, 8 KOs) presumably will be, too, though he might be a better pure boxer than Herring and Valdez.
The 33-year-old Brazilian won a gold medal in the lightweight division at the 2016 Games, in which Stevenson was runner-up at bantamweight to Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez.
Conceicao fell short in his only shot at the pro title, losing by unanimous decision (117-110, 115-112 and 115-112) to then-champion Valdez a year ago. However, some believe he deserved the nod in that fight.
He bounced back by easily outpointing previously undefeated Xavier Martinez in January.
“He’s a good fighter,” Stevenson said Wednesday. “But I think he lost against Valdez. If you left it in the hands of the judges, you lost. I fought Valdez and gave him a beating. I have no excuses.
“He’s talking about having COVID or something like that before his last fight. All I hear are excuses. I am ready to fight. Tell him to have no excuses on Friday night. I’m ready to beat him up.”
Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs) will fight at 130 pounds for the sixth time. Could it be the end of him at weight?
He’s hinted that it’s getting tough to get to 130, which means he’ll soon move up to the deeper, more glamorous lightweight division. Fans are already clamoring for a showdown between Stevenson and undisputed 135-pound champion Devin Haney.
Of course, Stevenson can seek another belt at 130 against Hector Garcia (WBA) or Joe Cordina (IBF) or perhaps face both for the undisputed championship in that division.
He told RingTV.com that he hasn’t made a decision on his next move, assuming he beats Conceicao.
“I can’t give you an answer on that, I’ll have to see when I finish my weight reduction,” he said. “I don’t know how difficult the weight cut will be. I would love to go uncontested by grabbing each belt, one by one.
“But if I can’t make the weight, I won’t force myself to lose weight when I really don’t have to. I’m taking every fight as it comes.”
He knows only one thing.
“At the end of the day, I don’t know how big I’m going to be,” he said. “I don’t know what weight class I’m going to fall into, but wherever I’m at, I’m going to dominate.”
Gallery
Photos: Shakur Stevenson’s dominant win over Oscar Valdez
