Via Huck Allen: Shakur Stevenson and Shuichiro Yoshino have a deal done on April 8 in a WBC lightweight title elimination match to decide what is required for the undisputed champion Devin Haney. Stevenson’s battle to the top with Yoshino will be shown on ESPN.
The average boxing fan in America wouldn’t be too excited to hear Shakur fight Yoshino because they wouldn’t have heard of the Japanese boxer. They want to see Shakur fight these assassins from lightweight:
- Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis
- Frank Martin
- Devin Haney
- Ryan Garcia
- Vasyl Lomachenko
- Isaac Cruz
- William Zepeda
Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs) is the fourth fighter to be asked by the WBC to fight undefeated former world champion Shakur (19-0.9 KO) after Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, William Zepedaand former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. All refused to fight.
According to Mike Coppinger, who is reporting that Stevenson will face the next 31-year-old Yoshino, ‘Pitbull’ Cruz will go in a different direction, Zepeda promoters at Golden Boy want marinated Shakur fight before future success and Kambosos Jr is on vacation with his family after two defeats to Haney in 2022.
Some fans think that Golden Boy doesn’t want the famous Zepeda plank walk and lost to Stevenson and ruined his career before it could effectively begin.
2016 US Olympic silver medalist, Haney, 25, is happy to finally have a competitor for the WBC 135 lb class to lock herself in as a requirement for the title.
With Haney expected to vacate his four titles and rise to 140th after facing Vasyl Lomachenko next, winner Stevenson versus Yoshino will face off against the next willing contender. in the World Boxing Council rankings to compete for the empty 135-lb WBA belt.
Mike Coppinger said: “Shakur Stevenson and Shuichiro Yoshino are finalizing an agreement for their match on April 8, which is expected to identify a new mandatory opponent for the WBC lightweight title. GAME.
Yoshino recently won against the lightweight opponent Masayoshi Nakatani and former WBO super featherweight champion Ito Masayuki in 2022. Those are the only two notable names on Yoshino’s 8-year professional resume. The other 14 opponents that Yoshino defeated were all unknown in Japan.
Shakur is about to have a decisive 12th round victory over Robson Conceicao last September in Newark, New Jersey. In that bout, Stevenson lost his 130 lb WBC & WBO title in the bout when he weighed 131.6 lbs.
Although Shakur won the match, he still lost his belt for exceeding the 130 lb super featherweight limit.
