NEWARK, N.J. — Shakur Stevenson was relentless. Punch after punch thrown, punch after punch landed — the audible pop clear to all in the Prudential Center what was going on.
Stevenson was dominant Saturday night in his hometown, and midway through the sixth round, it was over. The referee stopped the fight. Stevenson picked up win No. 20 of his career and his first as a lightweight, defeating Shuichiro Yoshino in the sixth round on Saturday night.
It was potentially the best Stevenson, the 25-year-old former WBO featherweight and WBO and WBC junior lightweight champion of the world, has looked.
“I think I’ve even been sharper,” Stevenson said. “But I was very focused, very focused on what I was supposed to do and sticking with what the game plan was.”
Stevenson (20-0, 10 KO) made his objective clear early. After a round-and-a-half of being patient and fighting a typical Stevenson fight — defensive, with finding spots to attack — Stevenson landed a quick left to Yoshino’s face that sent him to the canvas in the second round.
Yoshino got up, but Stevenson became much more aggressive then, finishing out the round with a flourish.
“It was timing,” Stevenson said. “I timed it the way that I timed it but when I see him go down, I knew it was going to be a short night.”
He continued the carnage in the fourth round, consistently landing punches to Yoshino’s face before a right hook landed flush on Yoshino’s jaw and cheek, sending him to the ground for a second time.
After that round, the referee went to Yoshino and told him he’d have to do a bit more to stay in the fight. Stevenson kept rolling, though, and he knew Yoshino would keep getting up if he knocked him down – although a third knockdown never materialized because the fight was stopped.
“He a tough dude,” Stevenson said. “I could tell he a real tough dude.”
Stevenson and his corner seemed so ready that the fighter was up and waiting for his opponent well before the start to signal every round, between-round instructions over and Stevenson ready to continue his clinic. Stevenson fought and landed his punches Saturday night like a rhythm shooter in basketball when he knows he’s making next to everything.
Stevenson landed 50.2% of his punches (123 of 245) and 59.8% of his power punches (104 of 174). Yoshino (16-1, 12 KO), meanwhile, threw far more punches (332) but landed only 36 in the whole fight and didn’t land more than nine punches in any round. Meanwhile, Stevenson landed at least 10 punches in every round.
The confidence became clear early. Big shot after big shot landed and Yoshino barely seemed to throw. When he did, he wasn’t coming close. It was a confidence displayed from the moment he walked out in front of a crowd of over 10,000 inside the Prudential Center in his hometown.
When he was announced to the crowd, there was a palpable buzz turning to a deafening roar when it was announced he was from Newark, where the fight was being held. Stevenson, with Newark written in black on the front of the waistband of his trunks, made his hometown proud — including the few thousand or so people who hung around after his win to hear him address the crowd.
After the fight, Stevenson also said who he’d like next: Devin Haney. Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko fight on May 20 for the undisputed lightweight title. Stevenson said he believes Haney will win that fight — and then he’ll end up taking Haney on.
“Tell him come on,” Stevenson said. “If that’s what he want to do, I don’t know why he would watch that and say that. I’ve never really even seen Devin Haney really even hurt anybody before. He ain’t really got the punching power.
“So if he watched that, he could tell that I could punch. I don’t know what would make him say, ‘Let’s do it.’ Maybe he’s just a competitor. Maybe I just to got to respect it.”
After Saturday night, Stevenson believes he showed the rest of his new division, the lightweight division, his skills are continued to be worthy of respect in yet another weight class.