Thursday, November 16, 2023

Boxing Challenge

     It's a rare Thursday night in the boxing challenge as Top Rank and ESPN are live from Las Vegas with two title events.

The main event pits Shakur Stevenson, who is trying for his third divisional title in his relatively short career, and Edwin De Los Santos for the WBC lightweight title that Devon Haney placed on hold before his challenge of Regis Prograis for the WBC junior welterweight title next month.

Stevenson impressively stopped Shuichiro Yoshino in six rounds in April for his debut in the division and looked very strong at the weight.

De Los Santos is the opponent in a rare Top Rank vs PBC pairing and has rattled off his four biggest wins since his only loss, a split decision to William Foster in January 2022.

De Los Santos ripped through then-undefeated prospect Jose Valenzuela in September 2022 and won every round in a July unanimous decision win over Joseph Adorno.

De Los Santos accepted the fight after Frank Martin refused to fight Stevenson, turning down his largest career payday and first world title shot due to what he claimed was not enough purse parity between Martin and Stevenson.

De Los Santos is a good puncher (14 of 16 wins via knockout) but he's dealing with an entirely new level of opponent in Stevenson, who can eventually be the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.

In the co-feature, exciting WBO junior lightweight champion Emanuel Navarrete defends his title against former title challenger Robson Conceicao.

Navarrete returns after his fan-friendly battle against former champion Oscar Valdez in August with Navarrete winning a unanimous decision.

Conceicao, a former Olympic gold medal winner, has lost just twice, losing a somewhat controversial decision to Oscar Valdez before dropping a much wider decision to Shakur Stevenson last year.

Conceicao could bring an interesting style to face Navarrete, who struggled a bit in being knocked down by Liam Wilson in his fight before the Valdez victory.

Did Navarrete look so good against Valdez because Valdez's style was made for him?

Or was the Wilson win the outlier for Navarrete and just an off-night?

Boxing Challenge

Vacant WBC Lightweight Title 12 Rds
Shakur Stevenson vs Edwin De Los Santos
All; Stevenson Unanimous Decision

WBO Junior Lightweight Title. 12 Rds
Emanuel Navarrete vs Robson Conceicao
R.L: Navarrete KO 7
TRS: Navarrete Unanimous Decision
V.S: Conceicao Unanimous Decision

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