Stevenson out-points Harutyunyan to retain the WBC lightweight crown
Stevenson improved to 22-0 with 10 long-distance victories, making his first title defense since winning a narrow decision over Dominican puncher Edwin de los Santos last November the
Undefeated American Shakur Stevenson retained the World Boxing Council world lightweight title with a unanimous decision win over Artem Harutyunyan in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday
Stevenson improved to 22-0 with 10 long-distance victories, making his first title defense since winning a narrow decision over Dominican puncher Edwin de los Santos last November the
That made Stevenson the three-weight world champion, but it was an unflattering performance for both fighters and Stevenson did little to provide critics demanding more fireworks in his final fight with a promoter contract Top Rank did on Saturday cool
After a slow start, fans at the Prudential Center in Stevenson’s hometown were stunned, and Stevenson began to slow down the Armenian-born German with a series of body shots in the sixth round in
He continued a measured run until the 12th, with the judges scoring 119-109, 118-110, and 116-112 for the champion.
Harutyunyan dropped to 12-2 with seven distance wins in his first world title appearance.
On the same card, Brazilian Robson Consecao dethroned WBC super featherweight world champion O’Shakey Foster with a controversial 12-round split decision victory
Foster’s jaw dropped in stunned shock as the scores were read for his fight in which he — and many spectators — felt he’d done enough against an opponent who didn’t seem to land any devastating punches after the
However, two judges saw the duel 116-112 and 115-113 for Conceicao, while a third scored it 116-112 for Foster.
“I think I was a real winner,” said Conceicao, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist who improved to 19-2 with one win and nine goals
“I tried hard. He didn’t come to fight, in fact, he was running, running, running, and I was hitting, so I was a winner.”
Foster fell to 22-3 with 12 goals.
“I thought it was closed,” Foster said. “They didn’t bite me but they had hit me on the head. I don’t know, man … I want a rematch.”