Shakur Stevenson Secures Unanimous Decision Victory Over Artem Harutyunyan to Retain WBC Lightweight Title

Shakur Stevenson was frustrated that he didn’t stop Artem Harutyunyan on Saturday night. However, he delivered a boxing masterclass, cruising to a unanimous decision victory at the Prudential Center in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey. The judges scored it 119-109, 118-110, and 116-112, all in Stevenson’s favor, successfully defending his WBC lightweight world championship. (DAZN had it 119-109 for Stevenson).

After thoroughly dominating Harutyunyan, Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) emphasized that only higher-level competition would showcase his true greatness.

“I want to fight the best fighters in boxing,” Stevenson told ESPN after his win. “That’s how you’re going to get to see the best version of me — when you put me in the ring with somebody else that wants to fight back and compete.”

On potential fights with Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko, he added: “If they don’t fight me, they don’t fight me. I’m just going to stay in the gym and stay ready.”

Stevenson spent the first few rounds studying Harutyunyan before gaining momentum and banking rounds. The sixth and seventh rounds saw the champion delivering hard body shots that hurt Harutyunyan and curbed his aggression. For the remainder of the fight, Stevenson split the challenger’s guard with jabs and unleashed stinging combinations that the outclassed Armenian had no answers for.

By the end of the bout, Stevenson had landed 44 percent of his power punches compared to Harutyunyan’s 18 percent.

At times, the Newark crowd booed, though Stevenson believed the frustration was directed more at Harutyunyan.

“It’s kind of hard to prove it if you don’t got a fighter trying to fight back,” Stevenson said about demonstrating his dominance at 135 pounds. “He’s just trying to make sure he survives.”

Here’s a recap of the Stevenson vs. Harutyunyan main card.