Shuichiro Yoshino laced up his boxing boots and willed his way to the position that he’s in today. With the 31-year-old having little to no fanfare, he was forced to trek his way through the muddy lightweight waters

Following back-to-back eye-catching stoppage victories against Masayoshi Nakatani and former titlist Masayuki Ito, Yoshino now finds himself in front of the championship line. Later on tonight, in the main event slot at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, the Japanese native will square off against Shakur Stevenson in an official WBC final eliminator.

Despite holding a glistening and perfect record, Yoshino, by and large, isn’t expected to emerge victoriously. In Stevenson, the former Olympic silver medalist is viewed as a generational talent and one who has a plethora of options waiting on him.

Largely, the pragmatic sentiment surrounding Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs) is that a victory tonight will lead to him to a blockbuster showdown against either the winner of Ryan Garcia vs. Gervonta Davis or the winner between Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko.

While Stevenson has done his best to focus on the task at hand, he admits that he would love nothing more than to face one of the lightweight division’s more established names. Although he doesn't have a preference, Stevenson has acknowledged that Haney's undisputed throne is a position he wants for himself.  

As Stevenson continues to pontificate his desire about facing Haney, Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs) is keeping his mouth shut. Quietly, however, the highly ranked contender is acrimonious over the flippant nature in which he’s being treated. With Stevenson making his 135-pound debut, Yoshino questions whether or not the 25-year-old has the proper set of whiskers needed in order to compete against him.

If Stevenson takes his eyes off the prize, even for a moment, Yoshino is completely convinced that Stevenson will pay for his ill-mannered actions.

“If he’s looking past me," said Yoshino to BoxingScene.com. "I’m gonna knock him out.”