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Shakur Stevenson Returns Home April 8 Against Shuichiro
Yoshino At Newark’s Prudential Center
The pound-for-pound fighting pride of “Brick City” has
packed the house before, and he is set to do it again.
Undefeated former two-weight world champion Shakur Stevenson
will take on Japanese puncher Shuichiro Yoshino in a
12-round WBC lightweight title eliminator Saturday, April 8,
at Prudential Center in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
In the co-feature, heavyweight knockout artist Jared “The
Real Big Baby” Anderson aims for another stoppage in a
10-rounder against an opponent to be named. And, in the
10-round televised opener, rising lightweight and U.S.
Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis fights a
to-be-determined foe.
Stevenson-Yoshino and the returns of Anderson and Davis will
be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN, Deportes and ESPN+ at 10
p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
“Shakur Stevenson is one of the most gifted fighters I’ve
had the pleasure of promoting, and I look forward to seeing
him once again fight in front of his incredible hometown
fans in Newark,” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum. “Yoshino
is a tough fighter and won’t be deterred by the hostile
crowd. Jared Anderson and Keyshawn Davis are two of the
sport’s emerging superstars, and I can’t wait to see them
back in the ring.”
"Following the overwhelming success of Shakur Stevenson’s
return to Newark in September, we are thrilled to build on
that momentum with another stacked Top Rank boxing card on
Saturday, April 8th,” said Dylan Wanagiel, VP of Sports
Properties & Special Events for Prudential Center. “As
Shakur continues to rise the pound-for-pound rankings, we
take great pride in being his home. We all witnessed just
how much Shakur means to the City of Newark a few months
ago, as the event sold the most tickets to a boxing event in
our venue's 15-year history. Alongside our world-class
partners at Top Rank and ESPN, we look forward to raising
the bar for boxing fans not only in New Jersey but across
the globe.”
Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs), a former featherweight and junior
lightweight world champion, returns home following last
September's triumph against Robson Conceição. The stubborn
Conceição lasted the distance, but Stevenson dominated in
front of 10,107 fans at Prudential Center. It was the first
time Stevenson had fought at Prudential Center since July
2019 and established the venue as one of the sport's most
raucous hometown crowds. Stevenson won the WBO junior
lightweight title with a 10th-round knockout over Jamel
Herring in October 2021, then unified the division with a
stirring 12-round display over WBC king Oscar Valdez the
following April. Those victories propelled Stevenson, a 2016
U.S. Olympic silver medalist, to the top 10 of most
pound-for-pound lists. He now sets his sights on a third
weight class and a spot atop the pound-for-pound throne.
“I am taking over the lightweight division and my run will
start on April 8 in Newark. Shuichiro Yoshino is an
undefeated fighter who was willing to step up and fight me
when so many fighters were scared,” Stevenson said. “My last
fight at the Prudential Center was just the start of what
I’m building in Jersey. We are going to pack the Prudential
Center again and show the world who the future of boxing
really is.”
Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs), the WBC’s No. 5 contender, is a
former Japanese lightweight champion who compiled a 104-20
amateur record. After seven defenses of his Japanese title,
Yoshino rose in the rankings following a banner 2022. Last
April, he won a bloody technical decision over former world
champion Masayuki Ito after Ito suffered a cut over his left
eye. He followed up the Ito triumph in November with a
sixth-round stoppage over Masayoshi Nakatani, best known to
fans for his stands against Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy
Lomachenko. Yoshino has never fought away from Japan and
hopes to spoil Stevenson’s homecoming.
"I am very honored to be fighting in the U.S. for the first
time. I'm extremely focused and motivated,” Yoshino said.
“I'm looking forward to fighting the great two-division
champion, Shakur Stevenson, in his hometown of Newark. I'll
be training hard leading up to the fight and look forward to
showing the fans an exciting victory!”
Anderson (13-0, 13 KOs), a 23-year-old from Toledo, Ohio,
has notched five consecutive second-round stoppages,
including a demolition of the normally durable Jerry Forrest
last December. Anderson received international headlines for
his work as a sparring partner of heavyweight champion Tyson
Fury, but he is now firmly established as a potential
heavyweight champion.
Davis (7-0, 5 KOs), from Norfolk, Virginia, went to the
Tokyo Olympics as a 3-0 professional and returned home with
a silver medal and a long-term promotional contract with Top
Rank. He is 4-0 since signing with the promotional
powerhouse in late 2021, including three stoppage victories
and last December’s shutout over former world title
challenger Juan Carlos Burgos. Davis shined at Prudential
Center last September, stopping Omar Tienda in five rounds.
Undercard action — streaming live and exclusively on ESPN+ —
includes undefeated Polish heavyweight prospect Damian Knyba
(10-0, 6 KOs) in an eight-rounder. Knyba signed a long-term
contract with Top Rank following his second-round knockout
over Emilio Salas on the Teofimo Lopez-Sandor Martin bill in
December.
Featherweight phenom Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (6-0, 3
KOs), the latest uber-talent from Brownsville, Brooklyn,
will fight in a six-rounder against an opponent to be named.
Carrington fought on the Stevenson-Conceição bill and
blanked Jose Argel over six rounds.
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