By: Sean Crose
“I gave it my all,” Shakur Stevenson posted on Twitter Thursday afternoon. He was 1.6 pounds overweight a few minutes earlier when weighing for his scheduled Friday night fight with Robson Conceicao, who had put on the weight with ease on his own. “I have been professional my entire career and have put on weight,” continued Stevenson, “but my body can’t put on 130 anymore. My health must come first. I’m going up to 135 in my next match. After the initial weighing at Newark’s Prudential Center, Stevenson did not bother to go back to the scale, as is often the case in such situations. He was given two hours to cut the necessary weight. We are Stevenson refuse to do so, he will lose the WBO and WBC lightweight titles.
It goes without saying that the look may not be great for the undefeated Stevenson 18-0. Friday night’s battle will take place in the town he came from, Newark. Although the undefeated tit-for-tat (or tit-for-tat as of press time) now fights outside of Houston, home fights are a significant problem in the sport of boxing . Stevenson can now fight on Saturdays without a belt for protection. However, if that’s the case, Conceicao still has a chance to make his own belt on Friday, as long as he’s at his best Stevenson – something the Brazilian 17-1 shouldn’t have done.
Boxing Insider will update this story as it develops.
