Shakur Stevenson defends his WBC and WBO junior lightweight belts against Robson ‘Nino’ Conceicao at the Prudential Centre in Newark City, USA on Friday night.
This will be the 25-year-old champion’s first defence of both belts and some of the betting sites have the odds heavily in favour of him at 12/1.
The southpaw Stevenson 18-0; 9 has good footwork and is a precision puncher and is also very accurate when it comes to counter punching.
Conceicao, 33, is a good boxer-puncher who fights from the orthodox stance and has compiled a record 17-1; 8 with his only loss coming against Oscar Valdez (29-0) in September 2021 when challenging for the WBC junior lightweight belt.
Conceicao won a gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Stevenson won silver, but there is no doubt that Stevenson holds the edge as a professional.
The challenger fights from behind a high guard which has left him open to body shots at times.
The defending champion is the more skilled fighter and although Conceicao is a hardened fighter the odds must favour Stevenson to win on points over 12 rounds.