WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) won a dull 12-round unanimous decision over fringe contender Artem Harutyunyan (13-2, 7 KOs) on Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The scores were 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112. Shakur appeared to lose four rounds, so the 116-112 score was the most accurate.
Stevenson fought flat-footed most of the fight, coming forward, throwing body shots, and not retreating like he normally does. However, he failed to hurt Harutyunyanm 33, due to his shots lacking power, and he was getting hit a lot.
Harutyunyan gassed out after four rounds but still was able to get the better of Shakur in a couple of the later rounds of the fight despite looking exhausted.
You must give Shakur credit for coming to fight tonight, but he couldn’t dominate Harutyunyan like he’d done against fighters when he used to compete at 130 and 126. Without the size advantage that Shakur had in those weight classes, he doesn’t have the power or the aggressiveness to dominate at 135.
Overall, Abdullah Mason stole the show from the undercard, as he looked a lot better than Shakur or Keyshawn Davis. Top Rank has a future star with Mason.
Undercard results:
– In the co-feature bout, #1 Robson Conceicao (19-2-1, 9 KOs) outworked WBC super featherweight champion O’Shaquie Foster (22-3, 12 KOs), winning a twelve-round split decision. The scores were 116-112, 115-113 for Conceicao, and 116-112 for Foster. Boxing News 24 scored it 117-111 for Conceicao.
After the fight, Foster was pretty bitter about his loss, feeling he deserved the win by a shutout and saying he wanted a rematch. However, he only has himself to blame for his loss because he was running from Conceicao the entire fight and was rarely willing to stand his ground.
Conceicao was coming forward the entire fight, pushing the action, landing punches on the outside and inside. Foster was fighting in Shakur-esque style, using the step-back approach and not fighting. He made it boring and deserved to lose.
– 2016 Olympian Keyshawn Davis (11-0, 7 KOs) won an ugly ten-round unanimous decision over Miguel Madueno (31-3, 28 KOs) in what was supposed to be a showcase fight for the lightweight contender but turned out to be a poor performance. The scores were 99-91, 99-91 and 99-91.
Keyshawn, 25, held constantly from the fifth round on, tying up Madueno each time he’d get in punching range. It was clear that Keyshawn didn’t like the power shots he was getting hit with, so he tied up Madueno excessively. The referee played it lax, letting Keyshawn hold without warning or penalizing, and failed to address his stiff arms.
After the fight, Keyshawn said he was ready for a world title shot after his win, but this was not a true test worthy of a title shot. Keyshawn needs to avenge his four losses to Andy Cruz. Top Rank probably won’t do that because of those fights and tonight’s performance by Keyshawn, which showed that he’s flawed.
Abdullah Mason from the card looks more deserving of a world title shot than Keyshawn.
– Lightweight contender Abdullah Mason (14-0, 12 KOs) destroyed veteran Luis Lebron (20-6-1, 13 KOs), stopping him in the third round of a scheduled eight-round fight. The 20-year-old Mason dropped Lebron, 31, twice in the second round, bloodying his nose.
In the third round, Mason backed Lebron to the ropes, unloading on him with heavy shots, finishing with a left to the body that doubled him over. The referee then stepped in and stopped the contest at 1:18 of the round. “I guess he couldn’t handle the smoke,” said Mason after the fight.
– Super featherweight prospect Enid Garcia (19-1, 12 KOs) outboxed William Foster III (17-2, 11 KOs), winning a wide ten-round unanimous decision. The scores were 99-91, 98-92 and 98-92.
Foster was in trouble in the second round, getting caught repeatedly by Garcia, 30, and outclassed. Garcia seemed to fade a bit down the stretch and spent much of the time on the outside boxing.
