NEWARK, N.J. — Shakur Stevenson was relentless. Punch after punch thrown, punch after punch landed — the audible pop clear to all in the Prudential Center what was going on.
Stevenson was dominant Saturday night in his hometown, and midway through the sixth round, it was over. The referee stopped the fight. Stevenson picked up win No. 20 of his career and his first as a lightweight, defeating Shuichiro Yoshino in the sixth round.
It was potentially the best Stevenson — the 25-year-old former WBO featherweight and WBO and WBC junior lightweight champion of the world — has looked.
“I think I’ve even been sharper,” Stevenson said. “But I was very focused, very focused on what I was supposed to do and sticking with what the game plan was.”
Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) made his objective clear early. After a round and a half of being patient and fighting a typical Stevenson fight — defensive, with finding spots to attack — Stevenson landed a quick left to Yoshino’s face that sent him to the canvas in the second round.
Yoshino got up, but Stevenson then became much more aggressive, finishing out the round with a flourish.
“It was timing,” Stevenson said. “I timed it the way that I timed it, but when I see him go down, I knew it was going to be a short night.”
He continued the carnage in the fourth round, consistently landing punches to his opponent’s face before a right hook landed flush on Yoshino’s jaw and cheek, sending the 31-year-old Japanese boxer to the canvass for a second time.
After that round, the referee went to Yoshino and told him he would have to do more to stay in the fight. Stevenson kept rolling, though, and he knew Yoshino would keep getting up if he knocked him down — although a third knockdown never materialized because the fight was stopped.
“He a tough dude,” Stevenson said. “I could tell he a real tough dude.”
Stevenson and his corner seemed so ready that the fighter was up and waiting for his opponent well before the start to signal every round — with between-round instructions over and Stevenson ready to continue his clinic. Stevenson fought and landed his punches Saturday night like a rhythm shooter in basketball when he knows he is making next to everything.
Stevenson landed 50.2% of his punches (123-of-245) and 59.8% of his power punches (104-of-174). Yoshino (16-1, 12 KOs), meanwhile, threw far more punches (332) but landed only 36 in the whole fight and didn’t land more than nine punches in any round. Stevenson landed at least 10 punches in every round.
Stevenson’s confidence became clear early. Big shot after big shot landed, and Yoshino barely seemed to throw. When Yoshino did throw, he wasn’t coming close. It was a confidence displayed from the moment Stevenson walked out in front of a crowd of over 10,000.
When Stevenson was announced, there was a palpable buzz turning to a deafening roar when it was declared he was from Newark. Stevenson, with Newark written in black on the front of the waistband of his trunks, made his hometown proud, including the few thousand or so people who hung around after his win to hear him address the crowd.
That’s when Stevenson also said who he would like to face next: Devin Haney.
Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko are scheduled to fight on May 20 for the undisputed lightweight title. Stevenson said he believes Haney will win that fight — and he’ll then end up taking Haney on.
“Tell him come on,” Stevenson said. “If that’s what he want to do, I don’t know why he would watch that and say that. I’ve never really even seen Devin Haney really even hurt anybody before. He ain’t really got the punching power.
“So if he watched that, he could tell that I could punch. I don’t know what would make him say, ‘Let’s do it.’ Maybe he’s just a competitor. Maybe I just got to respect it.”
After Saturday night, Stevenson said he believes he showed the rest of his new division, the lightweight division, his skills continue to be worthy of respect in yet another weight class.