Shakur Stevenson: record, next fight and profile →
Former champion Shakur Stevenson will look to become a two division world champion when he faces Jamel “Semper Fi” Herring for the WBO super featherweight title. Stevenson will challenge Herring on Saturday, Oct. 23 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The fight will be carried by ESPN.
Shakur Stevenson isn’t about to lose any sleep over the idea of not being his promoter’s favorite 130-pound fighter. The junior lightweight ace from Newark, New Jersey is set to challenge WBO titleholder Jamel Herring on Oct. 23 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Both fighters are promoted by Top Rank.
Jamel “Semper Fi” Herring and Shakur Stevenson have exchanged verbal volleys in person and on social media. They’ll settle the score in the Throwdown in A-Town.
Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson have spent nearly a year trying to figure out the best laid plan to meet in the ring. The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has decided that more than enough time has passed by for the two sides to reach a deal on their own.
Jamel Herring is just biding his time. The WBO junior lightweight titleholder has been reported to be in serious negotiations to face fellow Top Rank stablemate and former 126-pound titleholder Shakur Stevenson later on this year.
As impressive as Jamel Herring looked against Carl Frampton, Shakur Stevenson considers his technical-knockout victory more reflective of Frampton than Herring. Herring retained his WBO junior lightweight title by stopping Frampton in the sixth round April 3 at Caesars Bluewaters Dubai. The 35-year-old southpaw dropped Frampton twice, once in the fifth round and again in the sixth round, during that scheduled 12-round, 130-pound championship match before it was stopped.
Shakur Stevenson’s uneventful victory over Jeremiah Nakathila prompted Stevenson to apologize for what he considers a subpar performance. Viewership still went up as their monotonous match continued Saturday night. According to a Nielsen Media Research report released Tuesday, ESPN’s telecast of Stevenson’s 12-round points win drew an average audience of 857,000 and a peak audience of 927,000 toward the end of it.
For months, Jamel Herring has been forced to listen to claims carrying a wide range of insults though all with a common theme—that he can’t not handle the challenger in waiting for his title. The reigning WBO junior lightweight champion is eager to prove the doubters wrong, making a point to be in the house for Shakur Stevenson’s shutout win of Jeremia Nakathila this past Saturday at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The ESPN headliner came with the WBO interim title at stake, assuring Stevenson’s place in line for the main title as per the terms established by the sanctioning body.
Shakur Stevenson apologized to his fans on Twitter following his 12-round shutout of Jeremiah Nakathila on Saturday night. Stevenson considers himself the best defensive fighter in boxing and displayed those skills versus Namibia’s Nakathila. The WBO interim junior lightweight champion recognizes, however, that he didn’t do enough on offense to satisfy viewers who watched what amounted to an uninspiring points victory over an unknown underdog.
Shakur Stevenson Video Interview - (video by Ryan Burton) - Virgin Hotels, Las Vegas - For the WBO's interim-super featherweight title, Shakur Stevenson (16-0, 8 KOs) dominated Jeremiah Nakathila (21-2, 17 KOs) over twelve rounds to secure a lopsided unanimous decision. The scores were 120-107 across the board.