Shakur Stevenson’s hand reportedly will be OK.
Stevenson injured his left hand during the fifth round in his knockout victory over Felix Caraballo on Tuesday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. An X-ray of the hand revealed no significant damage, BoxingScene.com is reporting.
The featherweight titleholder said he’ll rest the hand for a while but expects to fight again in September.
“I hurt it a little bit, but I’m all right,” he told the website. “It’s not broke. I can move it.”
Steven said he injured the head when he landed a punch on Caraballo’s head in the first post-lockdown main event in the U.S. He could be seen wincing immediately after it happened.
Still, it was a left to Caraballo’s body that ended the one-sided 130-pound fight at 1:31 of the sixth round.
Stevenson, who retains his 126-pound title, told BoxingScene.com that he hasn’t decided whether he’ll move up to 130 long term. He said only a title-unification fight with Josh Warrington could keep him at 126 beyond his next fight.
He added that expects to face 126-pounder Can Xu next.
“I felt stronger, fresher, I was more offensive,” Stevenson said of fighting at the junior lightweight limit. “I wanted to show the offensive side of me. I felt good. I felt like a 130-pounder. I felt like I’m so skillfully good I can box at 130, 126, maybe even 135.”
READ MORE