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Shakur ‘Fearless’ Stevenson 18-0 (9) wants to unify the super featherweight division after adding the WBC title to the WBO belt he already owned on Saturday night.
The 24-year-old southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, comprehensively outboxed previously undefeated WBC 130-pound champion Oscar Valdez 30-1 (23) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Stevenson was quick out the gate, establishing range and using his footwork to keep Valdez on the end of his long, accurate punches.
Mexican Valdez, 31, had a better round in the third as his managed to cut off the ring and land a few stinging shots. But after that Stevenson took full control.
Valdez attempted a late rally but was a dollar short and a day late in most of the exchanges. CompuBox had Stevenson outlanding Valdez 189-110 in total punches while landing 53% of his power punches.
It wasn’t all bad for Valdez though. The 110 landed punches on Stevenson were the most by any of his previous opponents tracked by CompuBox.
The scores were 118-109 twice and 117-110, all for Stevenson.
The super featherweight division isn’t the deepest in boxing but Stevenson is resolute in staying put until he can unify all the major belts. Japan’s Kenichi Ogawa 26-1-1 (18) is the IBF champion while Venezuelan Roger ‘The Kid’ Gutierrez 26-3-1 (20) is the WBA boss.
Stevenson would be favoured against both of them.
“I want to collect all the belts at 130 and become undisputed,” said Stevenson after the fight. “I deserve to be a superstar, so that’s what I gotta do.
“This victory means everything. I told ya’ll what I was going to do. I said I’m gonna beat Valdez, Canelo, and Eddy Reynoso, so that was the game plan, beat the whole team and I feel good about it. Much respect to them, but that was my game plan.”
Valdez is trained by Eddy Reynoso, who also coaches Mexican superstar and undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 57-1-2 (39).
Reynoso masterminded Valdez’s win over Miguel Berchelt 38-3 (34) in February last year to collect the green belt at 130-pounds. In that fight Valdez was dominant at every stage of the fight, stopping Berchelt in the 10th after having him down three times.
His last outing was not so spectacular when he had to survive an early onslaught from Brazilian Robson Conceicao 17-1 (8) to eke out a close decision victory by scores of 115-112 twice and 117-110 in Tuscon, Arizona.
Valdez was magnanimous in defeat to Stevenson.
“He has great boxing skills,” said Valdez. “He was just the better fighter this night. He did what he had to do to win the fight. He’s a great fighter. His speed is there. Power is there. He was just the better fighter tonight. Overall, [Stevenson is] a great fighter.”
For Valdez, it’s back to the drawing board. For Stevenson, it’s onwards and upwards.
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