LAS VEGAS – Shakur Stevenson has been a more dynamic, aggressive offensive fighter and shown some power since he drew criticism for moving too much during his lopsided points victory over Jeremia Nakathila in June 2021.
Stevenson stopped Jamel Herring in the 10th round of his subsequent bout and dropped previously undefeated Oscar Valdez in the sixth round of his following fight, another one-sided, 12-round decision win for the skillful southpaw. The former WBO featherweight and WBC/WBO junior lightweight champion then dominated Robson Conceicao en route to a wide win on the scorecards and stopped Shuichiro Yoshino in the sixth round of back-to-back bouts at Prudential Center in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
Edwin De Los Santos still thinks Stevenson will revert back to the cautious approach he employed against Namibia’s Nakathila (23-4, 19 KOs) when they fight Thursday night for the vacant WBC lightweight title at T-Mobile Arena.
“He’s scared of my power,” De Los Santos told BoxingScene.com through a translator after their final press conference Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena. “He’s scared of my pressure. And he really is careful when he’s dealing with that. And the only way to escape is running.”
The Dominican southpaw warned Stevenson that one of the best defensive fighters in boxing better be especially careful when they square off in a 12-round main event ESPN will televise.
“If one of my punches lands,” De Los Santos said, “he won’t have time to run.”
Brooklyn’s De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KOs) takes pride in his own boxing ability, but he would welcome exchanges because he has knocked out 82 percent of his opponents in professional fights and is certain he is a harder puncher than Stevenson, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist. Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) is one of the most intelligent technicians in boxing, though, and figures to take a tactical approach to their fight, particularly during the early rounds.
If the 26-year-old Stevenson is consistently reluctant to engage, De Los Santos is prepared to combat that strategy.
“That’s usually his game plan,” De Los Santos said. “I hope that he changes that, so that the fight can be more exciting. … On Thursday, you will see that he won’t be able to run far. But if he does wanna run, I’ve also done a marathon before.”
The 24-year-old De Los Santos stopped the last southpaw he fought, then-unbeaten Jose Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KOs), in the third round of their September 2022 bout at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The resilient De Los Santos got up from a second-round knockdown that night and dropped Valenzuela once in the second round and again in the third round, when referee Ray Corona halted the action because a vulnerable Valenzuela had taken too much punishment.
BetMGM sportsbook has nonetheless established Stevenson as a 14-1 favorite to defeat De Los Santos for a title that became available when Devin Haney decided to move up to the 140-pound division for his next fight. The WBC designated Haney as its lightweight champion in recess because Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) chose to challenge WBC super lightweight champ Regis Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) on December 9 at Chase Center in San Francisco.
ESPN’s doubleheader is scheduled to start at 10:30 p.m. ET on Thursday night. Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete (38-1, 31 KOs) will defend his WBO junior lightweight title against Brazil’s Robson Conceicao (17-2, 8 KOs, 1 NC) in the 12-round, 130-pound opener of the network’s two-fight telecast.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.