Shakur Stevenson and Edwin De Los Santos squared off in the main event live on ESPN from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday, November 16. The contest featured undefeated two-division world champion of the United States up against once beaten contender of Dominican Republic. The pair battled it out for the vacant WBC lightweight title.
The scheduled for 12 rounds world championship bout went the full distance. The scores were 115-113, 116-112 and 116-112, all in favor of Stevenson. There was some booing from the crowd.
With the victory by unanimous decision, Houston, Texas-based Shakur Stevenson became a new WBC lightweight titleholder and three-division world champion. The 26-year-old southpaw of Newark, New Jersey improved to 21-0, 10 KOs and remained undefeated.
“I had a bad performance tonight,” Stevenson said post-fight. “That’s all I’m really focused on. I wasn’t feeling too good, so I’ll live with it. It’s okay. I came here and got the victory, and that’s all I wanted to do.
“I just didn’t feel good. I didn’t feel good before the fight. Honestly, I had already told myself that if I feel like this in the ring and if it’s not going well, I’m going to make sure that I box and get the victory.”
Edwin De Los Santos failed his first attempt to become champion and dropped to 16-2, 14 KOs. The 24-year-old southpaw of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic got his three-win streak snapped.
“We all know what happened,” De Los Santos said. “He came for a track meet. He didn’t come to fight. I showed that I am on a higher level because he never stood and fought like he does with other fighters.
“I did my job. He came to survive. That’s what he did. They gifted him the title, but I’m the people’s champion.”
In Australia, the event aired on Friday, November 17 live on Kayo.
Get Stevenson vs De Los Santos full fight card results.
