Shakur Stevenson used defense as his primary weapon to defeat Edwin De Los Santos by a one-sided decision and win a vacant 135-pound world title Thursday in Las Vegas, making Stevenson a three-division champion.
The official scores were 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113. Boxing Junkie scored it 118-110 for Stevenson, 10 rounds to two.
Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs) didn’t win any fans with his defense-first tactics but he dominated De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs), who couldn’t figure out a way to hit Stevenson more than a few times a round.
The winner didn’t land many shots either, as he took few risks. However, he jabbed well at times and landed some eye-catching counters when a desperate De Los Santos rushed toward him.
The lack of action drew boos from the disappointed spectators at T-Mobile Arena multiple times during what was a boring fight.
Stevenson has won titles in three divisions in a span of nine fights, which speaks to his unusual skill set. He won the title stripped from Devin Haney, who is moving up to 140 to face Regis Prograis.
A full report will follow shortly.
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WBO 130-pound titleholder Emanuel Navarrete and Robson Conceicao, who went down twice, fought to a majority draw on the Shakur Stevenson-Edwin De Los Santos card Thursday in Las Vegas.
One judge scored it 114-112 for Navarrete but the other two had it 113-113. Boxing Junkie also had it 113-113.
Conceicao, making his third attempt to win a major title, hit the canvas in Rounds 4 and 7 but outworked a Mexican opponent known for his volume punching in the majority of the other rounds.
Navarrete (38-1-1, 31 KOs) landed the harder punches and seemed to wear down Conceicao (17-2-1, 8 KOs) as the fight progressed.
However, the Brazilian, relying heavily on his determination, continued to work hard, took all but the two shots that put him down and avoided many others with his superior technical ability.
Navarrete, a three-division beltholder, was making the second defense of his WBO title.
The 35-year-old Conceicao, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist, is now 0-2-1 in major title fights.
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Pound-for-pounder Shakur Stevenson and Edwin De Los Santos are scheduled to fight for the 135-pound title stripped from Devin Haney on Thursday night in Las Vegas (ESPN, ESPN+).
Also, in the co-feature, 130-pound champ Emanuel Navarrete will defend his belt against Robson Conceicao.
Navarrete-Conceicao is scheduled to begin a few minutes after 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT. The main event will take place later in the show.
Boxing Junkie will post updates immediately after those fights end. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full coverage – fight stories, analysis and more – will follow on separate posts the night of the show and the following day.
Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) will try to become a world titleholder in a third division and continue to build the case that he’s as good as anyone in boxing on the unusual Thursday-night show.
De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KOs) has won three consecutive fights since he lost a split decision to William Foster III in January of last year
Enjoy the fights!
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