The Prudential Center in Newark hosts the lightweight debut of hometown hero Shakur Stevenson this Saturday evening, as he takes on dangerous Japanese hope Shuichiro Yoshino in a twelve round WBC lightweight title eliminator.
ESPN televise live Stevenson vs Yoshino in the USA, with Sky Sports the place to see the action in the UK.
Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs) has grown in stature with every fight after turning professional in 2017 after capturing an Olympic silver medal.
The 25-year-old became world champion in October 2019, taking a wide points win against Joet Gonzalez to win the vacant WBO featherweight title, and he immediately moved up in weight, banking three wins before claiming the WBO belt at super featherweight with a superb tenth round stoppage of Jamel Herring.
Stevenson quickly captured the WBC belt one fight later, turning in another masterful performance in dropping Oscar Valdez on the way to a dominant points victory.
The Newark man was last seen in September 2022, losing his belts on the scales after missing weight, but still routing Robson Conceicao on the cards, which has prompted this move up in weight.
Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs) fights outside of Japan for the first time, but has had some good recent results.
The Tokyo native defeated former world champion Masayuki Ito by technical decision in April last year, and followed that up by knocking out Masayoshi Nakatani in six, a man who had lasted nine rounds with Vasiliy Lomachenko.
The winner of this fight is in line to face undisputed champion, Devin Haney or Vasiliy Lomachenko if he beats Haney on May 20.
Prediction: I can’t see Yoshino troubling Stevenson here, and once the American settles into rhythm, he can take a wide win over the distance.
Davis faces Yigit
Promising lightweight hope, Keyshawn Davis gets a ten round assignment for the first time, and it’s a decent test against former world title challenger, Anthony Yigit.
Davis (7-0, 5 KOs), a 2020 Olympic silver medalist, went eight rounds for the first time last December.
The 24-year-old should be able to halt Yigit (26-2-1, 10 KOs), who has been stopped by Ivan Baranchyk and Rolando Romero previously.
Anderson battles Arias
At heavyweight, Jared Anderson (13-0, 13 KOs) goes for another quick win, and ‘Big Baby’ can produce just that by defeating the unbeaten George Arias (18-0, 7 KOs) in a contest set for ten rounds.
Remaining Undercard
In eight round action, Troy Isley (8-0, 4 KOs) should get the better of Roy Barringer (9-3, 6 KOs) on the cards at super welterweight, and at heavyweight, undefeated Pole, Damian Knyba (10-0, 6 KOs) can stop Curtis Harper (14-8, 9 KOs) inside schedule.
At featherweight, Bruce Carrington (6-0, 3 KOs) can continue his impressive start to his professional career by seeing off Brandon Chambers (9-0-1, 5 KOs) on the scorecards.
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The sole six rounder is at super lightweight, where Kelvin Davis (7-0, 5 KOs) can take a points win against Nelson Morales (3-4).
The only four rounder is also at super lightweight and Antoine Cobb (1-0-2, 1 KOs) should finally get the nod against Jaylan Phillips (1-2-2, 1 KOs) after their first two meetings ended in draws.
