Shakur Stevenson remained unbeaten and won a major title in a third division but managed to draw criticism at the same time.
That’s because he refused to engage Edwin De Los Santos in his unanimous decision victory Thursday night in Las Vegas, throwing a paltry average of 17 punches per round in a boring fight.
Does that mean Stevenson — ranked No. 13 by Boxing Junkie going into the fight — drops down or falls off the list?
No.
One, he won the fight. Two, his skill set — particularly his defensive ability — was on clear display. And, three, everyone has off nights, even someone as talented as he is.
So we decided to give Stevenson the benefit of the doubt for now and then see how he does in his next fight, which could come against a more formidable opponent than De Los Santos.
We’ll add this, though: He can’t expect to barely win horrible fights and ascend to the top of the list.
Next pound-for-pounder up: Honorable Mention David Benavidez is scheduled to face Demetrius Andrade on Nov. 25 in Las Vegas (pay-per-view).
On the same card, Honorable Mention Jermall Charlo will face Jose Benavidez Jr.
Here’s what the list looks like at the moment:
BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND
- Terence Crawford – No fight scheduled.
- Naoya Inoue – Scheduled to face fellow titleholder Marlon Tapales for the undisputed 122-pound championship on Dec. 26 in Japan.
- Oleksandr Usyk – Scheduled to face fellow titleholder and No. 9 Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight championship on Feb. 17 in Saudi Arabia.
- Dmitry Bivol – Scheduled to defend his 175-pound title against Lyndon Arthur on Dec. 23 in Saudi Arabia.
- Juan Francisco Estrada – Reportedly in talks with Honorable Mention Kazuto Ioka for a title-unification New Year’s Eve bout in Japan.
- Canelo Alvarez– No fight scheduled.
- Jermell Charlo – No fight scheduled.
- Gervonta Davis – No fight scheduled.
- Tyson Fury – Scheduled to face fellow titleholder and No. 3 Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship on Feb. 17 in Saudi Arabia.
- Errol Spence Jr. – No fight scheduled.
- Vasiliy Lomachenko – No fight scheduled.
- Artur Beterbiev – Scheduled to defend his 175-pound titles against Callum Smith on Jan. 13 in Quebec City, Canada.
- Shakur Stevenson – No fight scheduled.
- Roman Gonzalez – No fight scheduled.
- Devin Haney – Scheduled to challenge 140-pound titleholder Regis Prograis on Dec. 9 in San Francisco.
Honorable mention (alphabetical order): David Benavidez (scheduled to face Demetrius Andrade on Nov. 25 in Las Vegas); Jermall Charlo (scheduled to face Jose Benavidez Jr. on Nov. 25 in Las Vegas); Sunny Edwards (scheduled to face Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez in a 112-pound title-unification bout on Dec. 16 in Glendale, Arizona); Kazuto Ioka (reportedly in talks with No. 6 Juan Francisco Estrada for a title-unification New Year’s Eve bout in Japan); Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (scheduled to face Sunny Edwards in a 112-pound title-unification bout on Dec. 16 in Glendale, Arizona).
