Shakur Stevenson Cruises to Comfortable Unanimous Decision Win
Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) cruised to victory yet again, defeating Artem Harutyunyan (12-2, 7 KOs) by unanimous decision to remain world champion.
Scores were 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112. With the win, Stevenson remains the WBC lightweight titlist, defending the title for the first time. He won the belt with a unanimous decision victory over Edwin De Los Santos in November last year.
The fight headlined a Top Rank card – presented in association with Universum Boxing – at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Fight fans in the United States could watch the Top Rank card live on ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes. Those in the United Kingdom and Ireland could do so on Sky Sports while TSN+ had the action for those in Canada.
Be sure to check out Big Fight Weekend’s recap of everything that transpired earlier on the card, including a shocking split decision win for Robson Conceição against O’Shaquie Foster.
Shakur Stevenson Cruises to Unanimous Decision Win
Fight Recap
Both fighters took a patient approach in the early rounds. Harutyunyan, who was bobbing and weaving, was the one generally coming forward. While few punches were being landed in these rounds, Stevenson was the more accurate of the two.
The reigning champion became more aggressive as the fight approached the middle rounds. In the sixth, Stevenson’s body shots were starting to have a visible impact on his opponent, who took a few steps back to give himself some time to recover from them. Harutyunyan began boxing off of the back foot as Stevenson became more aggressive.
As the fight went on, Stevenson only extended his lead. Many punches that were thrown at him either missed completely, got parried or blocked. Offensively, he was significantly more accurate. Despite coming forward and landing body shots that bothered Harutyunyan, Stevenson never seemed close to getting the stoppage win. In the end, however, his superior skillset got him an easy unanimous decision win.
.@ShakurStevenson finding his rhythm 🔥 pic.twitter.com/42O89u5lt8
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) July 7, 2024
Post-fight Interview
Shakur Stevenson
“We’ll see [who is next]” said Stevenson. “Like I said, I want to fight the best fighters in boxing. That’s how you gonna get to see the best version of me, when you put me in the ring with somebody else that want to fight back and can compete. That’s when you’re going to get the best out of me.”
Currently writing out of Toronto, Canada, Saadeq first became a boxing fan while living in Doha, Qatar. Looking to become more involved in the sport, he began writing about boxing and has had work published in outlets such as Seconds Out and Boxing Social. He looks forward to continue covering boxing on Big Fight Weekend.
