Stevenson defends WBC and WBO junior lightweight belts

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.