It’s officially billed as a “World Championship Doubleheader,” in which the final bout features fighter-of-the-moment Shakur Stevenson and Edwin De Los Santos vying for the vacant WBC world lightweight title. If Stevenson prevails, he will be a three-weight champion, having won belts as a featherweight and junior lightweight/super featherweight. A win for De Los Santos enables him to bring a belt back to the Dominican Republic, as well as significantly increase his worth as a marquee fighter.
WBO junior lightweight champion Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete takes on challenger Robson Conceição in the other top-card match. Conceição lost to Stevenson in a September 2022 bout, before which Stevenson was stripped of his WBO and WBC super featherweight titles for being 1.6 pounds over limit on the scales.
Stevenson had to concede part of his contracted purse to Conceição after not making weight, but he was unwilling to negotiate with lightweight Frank Martin, who wanted a 50/50 split. With Vasiliy Lomachenko taking a break from boxing for the rest of the year, an opportunity suddenly came up for De Los Santos.
Was Martin justified in refusing to take less than a 50% cut of the purse, or was that an excuse to delay fighting Stevenson? It depends on which camp you ask, but a pattern is developing as both Isaac Cruz and William Zepeda passed on fighting Stevenson last year in a WBC title eliminator bout. Devin Haney, meanwhile, has derided Stevenson for not accepting a 25% cut in a match between the two lightweight superstars. Haney says it’s more money than Stevenson has made in his career so far. Stevenson makes a similar claim regarding Martin.
Self-image and self-worth are part of boxing, but what happens once the fighters enter the ring is what counts. Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs), whose right jabs and hooks were extremely effective in his April 2022 defeat of Oscar Valdez, faces another southpaw in De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KOs). Stevenson tries to hold the center of the ring while fighting defensively. De Los Santos throws effective combinations and steps into his punches, putting the full weight of his body into his attack from ground to impact.
They are practically yin and yang in style. Top Rank chairman Bob Arum has anointed undefeated Stevenson boxing’s pound-for-pound king, while De Los Santos is hungry and happy to step up and take advantage of an opportunity to both fight a celebrity and become a champion. Losing to De Los Santos, who has a slight reach advantage, is not an option if Stevenson wants to retain his high profile. De Los Santos, who has dubbed Stevenson “Shakira,” has the motivation of national pride spurring him on.
Stevenson was essentially a lightweight by the time he defeated Conceição (17-2, 8 KOs), Brazil’s first Olympic gold medalist. Navarrete (38-1, 31 KOs) last defended his WBO junior lightweight world title against fellow Mexican Valdez. Between the two headlining fights, this one is surely going to be louder, with both fighters’ contingents of supporters from back home cheering on their 130-pound fighter and drowning each other out with volume.
T-Mobile Arena, 3 p.m. Nov. 16, starting at $55 plus tax and fee. axs.com
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