Shakur Stevenson eyeing bigger fish after dominating Robson Conceicao in New Jersey
- Michael Schmitt
- 24 September 2022
Shakur Stevenson eased the disappointment of missing weight by securing a decisive victory over Robson Conceicao at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday night.
Stevenson saw his two 130-pound title belts, plus The Ring championship, vacated on Thursday after missing weight by nearly two pounds, putting a serious damper on his first fight since becoming a champion back in 2019.
He also had to guarantee Conceicao part of his purse to ensure the fight still went ahead. Conceicao could've pulled out of the fight, claimed his full purse, and fought someone else for the now-vacant titles, but chose to see if he could win the titles against Stevenson.
Once the bell rung, however, there was only going to be one winner, with Stevenson easily outpointing his opponent over 12 rounds.
The official scores were 118-108, 117-109 and 117-109 in the former champion's favour.
Stevenson went to work on Conceicao's body in the early rounds, which started to pay increasing dividends as the fight progressed, eventually opening up Conceicao for a few heavy power punches to the head as well, with the challenger forced to take plenty of punishment across the 12 rounds.
The Brazilian also went down from one of those body shots in the final seconds of Round 4, while the only shaky moment for Stevenson came in Round 9 when he lost a point for slamming his opponent to the canvas.
"I had a long week. I killed myself to make weight. All I want to do is come in here and perform. I did everything I could to do that," said Stevenson, who was fighting in his hometown.
"I'm still locked in [but] I still have a lot to prove," he added.
The loss was Conceicao's second in a world title fight, following a defeat by decision to Oscar Valdez a year ago in a fight for the WBC title.
Stevenson will now turn his attention to the 135-pound division, where he hopes to fight undisputed/RING champion Devin Haney, who is set to face George Kambosos Jr. for the second time on October 15.
"We gotta fight the champ. Me and Devin [Haney], we could lock in. After he fights Kambosos, let's get it on," said Stevenson.
