By: Sean Crose
Shakur Stevenson 19-0 invaded lightweight Saturday night in front of a hometown crowd at Newark, New Jersey’s Prudential Center. His opponent in the scheduled 12th round knockout for the WBC belt is Shuichiro Yoshino 16-0. Stevenson made sure to maintain range in the first inning, which meant he decided the tempo of the round. Yoshino put pressure on in the second round and was rewarded by being hurled to the floor by Stevenson with a solid ball. Yoshino was able to defeat the count and continued to fight.
Stevenson knocked out his man with powerful hits in the third round. It seems to be only a matter of time. A left-right combo again caused Yoshino to be defeated in the fourth round. Once again, Yoshino recklessly stood up. And with his merit, Yoshino was able to fight past the fifth round. At that time, a shorter man was finished. By the sixth inning, the referee had seen enough. Yoshino is still as calm as ever, but is being punished severely. The match was wisely stopped, with Stevenson making a stellar debut at lightweight.
