By Robert Segal: WBC/WBO super featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson lost both of his titles on the scales Thursday after weighing in at 131.6 pounds for his fight against Robson Conceicao at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs) opted not to strip down or use the two hours allotted him to lose the extra weight.
This move upset Conceicao (17-1, 8 KOs) because he felt Stevenson was unprofessional and set a bad example for his hometown of Newark. Conceicao made a weight of 129.6 lbs.
Stevenson is already moving up to 135 in his next fight, so he probably didn’t consider it important for him to make weight for this fight against Conceicao. Given that, he would have vacated his WBC and WBO 130-pound titles anyway.
You could immediately see the size difference between Stevenson and Conceicao when the two were on the scales. Stevenson looked bigger and less cut.
When Shakur lumbered in, they brought up the body shield to allow him to undress, but he shook his head, letting them know he wasn’t interested. That showed that Stevenson didn’t mind sacrificing his WBC and WBO belts.
When Stevenson goes up to 135, he could vacate the winner of the Devin Haney vs. George Kambosos Jr. II.
“Yesterday he said I’m fake. So it shows the world who’s fake he is,” Conceicao told Fighthype of Shakur Stevenson’s weight loss at Thursday’s weigh-in. “This guy is not a professional.
“I should set an example for your hometown. [Newark], and that is showing the opposite. He is not an example; he is not professional. So it’s a shame for the whole boxing world.
“Of course, even if he had made weight, he would have taken his belts. I know I’m going to take the belts from him. I don’t care if he keeps the belt or if he no longer deserves it. My functional is to take the belts.
“I’m going to take the belts home. I don’t talk as much as he does. So I’m a professional athlete in the ring and I don’t talk as much as he does. So if he wants to talk, he scares her. Tomorrow I am going to show the world the professional athlete that I am.
“Any type of champion and pound for pound has to be an example to the world. So that’s not what it is. It is not an example,” Conceicao said.
