One in every of boxing’s greatest is again Saturday as Shakur Stevenson makes his first protection of the WBC light-weight title towards Artem Harutyunyan in the primary occasion of High Rank’s card from Newark, New Jersey.
Stevenson is a three-division world champion, having held titles at featherweight and junior light-weight earlier than shifting as much as 135 kilos in April. Stevenson grew to become a light-weight champion final November when outpointed Edwin De Los Santos in a traditionally sluggish affair to say the vacant WBC belt.
Harutyunyan has spent simply shy of 12 months out of the ring. He returns from a loss on the playing cards to Frank Martin, whom was simply knocked out by Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis earlier this month.
Comply with our reside updates all through the Shakur Stevenson vs. Artem Harutyunyan struggle card.
How you can watch Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunyan struggle?
The Shakur Stevenson vs. Artem Harutyunyan struggle in the primary occasion of High Rank’s card from New Jersey will likely be broadcasted reside on ESPN and ESPN+ on July 6.
- How you can watch: ESPN or ESPN+
Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunyan struggle begin time, ring walks
High Rank’s struggle card, headlined by Shakur Stevenson vs. Artem Harutyunyan, kicks off at 8 p.m. CT with the primary occasion ring walks anticipated at roughly 10 p.m. CT.
- Battle card begin time: 8 p.m. CT
- Stevenson vs. Harutyunyan ring walks: approx. 10 p.m. CT
Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunyan struggle location
The Shakur Stevenson vs. Artem Harutyunyan struggle will happen on the Prudential Heart in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
This will likely be Stevenson’s fourth struggle on the Prudential Heart, and his third struggle there in his final 4 outings. The Prudential Heart is dwelling of the New Jersey Devils and Seton Corridor basketball.
Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunyan full struggle card
The undercard of Stevenson-Harutyunyan contains a 130-pound title showdown between present champion O’Shaquie Foster and Robson Conceicao together with certainly one of High Rank’s brightest prospects, Keyshawn Davis, returning to the ring.
- Major occasion: Shakur Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs) vs. Artem Harutyunyan (12-1, 7 KOs); WBC light-weight title
- Co-main: O’Shaquie Foster (22-2, 12 KOs) vs. Robson Conceicao (18-2-1, 9 KOs); WBC junior light-weight title
- Keyshawn Davis (10-0, 7 KOs) vs. Miguel Madueno (31-2, 28 KOs)
Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunyan struggle prediction
This has one-sided written throughout it. Stevenson is ranges above Harutyunyan and whereas he appeared slightly poor in his final outing, that ought to spur him to come back out stronger on Saturday.
It’s arduous to shake the considered the De Los Santos bout as a result of it was actually that dangerous of a struggle, however Stevenson stays one of the gifted and tough fighters within the sport. Defensively, there’s arguably no one higher and Harutyunyan could have his palms full simply attempting to land on Stevenson.
Whereas Harutyunyan gave Frank Martin a strong check final summer time, Stevenson is a much better fighter in nearly each approach and Harutyunyan is more likely to get picked aside, assuming Stevenson is at his greatest (or perhaps a fraction of it). We see a stoppage on this one as Harutyunyan is unable to hold with Stevenson into the late rounds.
Predictions: Stevenson def. Harutyunyan by TKO-8; Foster def. Conceicao by UD; Davis def. Madueno by UD
Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunyan struggle odds
- Shakur Stevenson to win: -3500
- Artem Harutyunyan to win: +1100
- Over 10.5 rounds: -180
- Underneath 10.5 rounds: +130
Odds through DraftKings, as of June 29
Shakur Stevenson struggle file
Shakur Stevenson is 21-0 with 10 wins by knockout.
Stevenson is a 3 division world champion and silver medalist on the 2016 Olympic Video games. Stevenson gained the WBO featherweight title over Joet Gonzalez in 2019, the primary world title of his profession.
He later grew to become a unified champion at junior light-weight, defeating Jamel Herring and Oscar Valdez in back-to-back fights. He moved to light-weight in 2023 and final November Stevenson gained the vacant WBC title, outpointing Edwin De Los Santos in a snooze-fest of a struggle.
Stevenson is ranked No. 4 at light-weight by The Ring, whereas ESPN ranks him No. 3 at light-weight and No. 8 pound-for-pound.
Artem Harutyunyan struggle file
Artem Harutyunyan is 12-1 with seven wins by knockout.
Harutyunyan was a bronze medalist for Germany on the 2016 Olympics. He turned professional in 2017 and had by no means fought exterior of his dwelling nation till his final struggle towards Frank Martin, who simply misplaced to Gervonta Davis earlier this month.
Harutyunyan gave Martin a check however finally, Martin handed it, profitable by unanimous determination in a considerably sloppy struggle, handing Harutyunyan his first loss. Harutyunyan hasn’t fought since that struggle practically 12 months in the past.
Harutyunyan is ranked No. 7 at light-weight by the WBC.
Shakur Stevenson stats
Statistically talking, Shakur Stevenson is likely one of the greatest fighters in all of boxing.
Stevenson leads all boxers in plus/minus, which measures what number of occasions you hit an opponent versus get hit by them. Stevenson’s plus/minus is an eye-popping 20.4, the one fighter with a plus/minus above 20.
Whereas Stevenson does not throw a ton of pictures, he is very efficient with the punches he does throw, rating third in boxing for energy punch join share, touchdown 46.8% of his energy punches.
Protection is the place Stevenson actually stands above the remaining. His opponents land a mean of simply 5.2 punches per spherical on him, the bottom in all of boxing, whereas connecting on simply 13.3% of pictures. He will get hit with a mean of three.9 energy punches per spherical and his opponents land solely 16.7% of their energy punches on him.
Shakur Stevenson vs ‘Tank’ Davis?
Shakur Stevenson has lengthy been linked to a possible struggle with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. With Stevenson now in the identical division as Davis, the cries for a struggle between the 2 have solely intensified.
Every maintain a light-weight title with Stevenson in possession of the WBC belt and Davis the WBA and it is not a stretch to name Stevenson and Davis the highest two fighters within the division. After Davis’ damaging eighth spherical knockout of Frank Martin earlier this month, it appears he is searching for a title unification in his subsequent bout.
Whereas Stevenson represents essentially the most engaging matchup, pitting the one-punch knockout energy of Davis towards the elite protection of Stevenson, it does not appear more likely to come subsequent. High Rank and Bob Arum are presently in talks with Davis’ workforce for a unification bout towards one other, equally gifted title holder, Vasiliy Lomachenko.
It appears possible High Rank will be capable to strike a cope with Davis’ workforce for that bout, which might doubtlessly arrange an excellent greater unification bout between Stevenson and the winner.
Extra:Gervonta Davis vs Frank Martin struggle: Who gained, struggle evaluation and what’s subsequent
Shakur Stevenson weight
Shakur Stevenson fights within the light-weight division, which has a most weight restrict of 135-pounds.
Stevenson began his profession at featherweight (126-pounds) and gained a title there in 2019 earlier than shifting as much as the junior light-weight division (130-pounds). At junior light-weight, Stevenson established himself as among the best fighters on the planet, turning into a unified champion earlier than rising too large for the division and as soon as once more shifting up.
Since coming to the light-weight division in April 2023, Stevenson has gained two fights, claiming the vacant WBC title in his final struggle over Edwin De Los Santos.
Harrison Campbell covers boxing for The Tennessean and highschool sports activities for The Day by day Herald. Electronic mail him at hcampbell@gannett.com and observe him on Twitter @hccamp.