Shakur Stevenson missed the weight by a lot on Thursday and was stripped of the WBC and WBO junior lightweight world titles the day before he was due to defend them against top contender Robson Conceicao.
As of the publication of this story, the camps were still negotiating a financial package that Stevenson would pay out of pocket to Conceicao to allow the fight to go ahead, according to Top Rank.
The fight is supposed to headline Top Rank Boxing on ESPN on Friday (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10 pm ET) at the Prudential Center in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey. If Stevenson were to win, the titles would be vacated. If Conceicao were to win, he would claim the belts.
After Conceicao weighed in at 129.6 pounds for his second shot at a world title, Stevenson stepped on the scale and weighed in at 131.6 pounds, 1.6 over the division’s 130-pound limit.
Top Rank staff put up a black screen in front of the scale in anticipation of Stevenson stripping down to weigh in again, but Stevenson just shook his head and didn’t use any of the extra two hours he might have used in an effort to make the weight. under the rules of the New Jersey State Athletic Board of Control.
“We are disappointed. We’re obviously disappointed,” Top Rank president Todd duBoef told Big Fight Weekend. “I was prepared for a great fight back home for Shakur. It will still be a good fight homecoming, but those 1.6 pounds cause a lot of pain.”
According to duBoef, Stevenson had spent four hours before the weigh-in trying to shed the last pound and change and had nothing else to give, so he didn’t use the additional overtime.
“I gave it my all. I’ve been pro my whole career and gained weight but my body can’t do 130 anymore,” Stevenson posted on Twitter. “My health has to come first. I will go up to 135 in my next fight.”
Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs), 25, a southpaw, vacated the WBO featherweight world title without defending it to move up to junior lightweight in 2020. After three wins in the division, including earning the WBO interim belt, knocked out Jamel Herring in the tenth round to take the full title in October 2021.
In his only defense, Stevenson dropped and dominated Oscar Valdez en route to a unanimous decision on April 30 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to unify the WBO and WBC titles.
Conceicao (17-1, 8 KOs), 33, a three-time Olympian who won an Olympic gold medal for Brazil in 2016 in front of his home crowd in Rio de Janeiro, lost his only professional fight to then champion of the WBC Valdez via controversial decision – 115-112, 115-112 and 117-110 – in September 2021 and enters the fight with Stevenson seeing himself as the uncrowned champion due to the decision controversy against Valdez.
The rest of the fighters on the card made weight, including lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis (5-0, 4 KOs), 23, a 2020 US Olympic silver medalist from Norfolk, Virginia, who weighed in at 136.2 pounds and Omar Tienda (25-5, 18 KOs), 34, of Mexico, for his eight-round co-feature.
The rest of the weights for the preliminary fights, which will air live on ESPN+ beginning at 6 pm: Henry Lebron 130, Andy Vences 129.8 pounds; Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington 126.6, José Argel 126.8; Pablo Valdez 153.6, Noé Alejandro López 152.2; Jahi Tucker 147.8 pounds, Jose Luis Sanchez 148.2; Orlando González 127.2, Misael López 126.2; Floyd Diaz 122.8, Juan Hernandez Martinez 123; Antoine Cobb 144, Jaylan Philipps 141.8.
