Shakur Stevenson delivered the most complete performance of his career on Saturday night, outmaneuvering, outthinking and ultimately outclassing Teófimo López over 12 rounds to claim the WBO and lineal junior welterweight titles at Madison Square Garden and further cement his standing among boxing’s elite.
Stevenson won a unanimous decision by identical scores of 119-109, 119-109 and 119-109, numbers that reflected a fight largely contested on his terms from the opening bell. (The Guardian had it 118-110.)
In a contest between arguably the two best American fighters active today, framed all week as a clash between volatility and control, it was Stevenson’s composure that defined the night. The unbeaten southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, dictated tempo early, repeatedly forcing López into reset mode with sharp lead-hand work and disciplined foot positioning that prevented the champion from establishing rhythm or distance.
The crowd inside the Garden arrived primed for chaos after a combustible fight week that included heated press conferences and a weigh-in melee. Instead, Stevenson turned the main event into something colder and more clinical, methodically dismantling López’s offense while fighting off the front foot and in the pocket for nearly the entire duration.
From the opening round, Stevenson established the geometry of the fight. He met López at center ring, touching him with the jab within seconds and following with clean left hands upstairs. López landed occasionally, drawing chants of “TEE-OH! TEE-OH!” from the lower bowl, but Stevenson’s advantages in hand speed and timing were immediately apparent.
The pattern only sharpened in the second. Stevenson landed the cleanest punch of the fight to that point – a flush shot that drew audible gasps – while continuing to push forward, undermining the narrative that he would box cautiously on the back foot. When Stevenson briefly went down, the referee ruled it a slip, and he resumed control behind a sharp jab and straight lefts that repeatedly split López’s guard.
By the third and fourth rounds, the contest had tilted decisively. Stevenson’s jab – ramrod straight and delivered with visible speed advantage – neutralized López’s attempts to close distance. López struggled to find the target, often punching at empty air as Stevenson exited exchanges at angles. By the end of the fourth, the question inside the arena had shifted from who was winning to whether Stevenson might eventually force a stoppage.
López showed flashes of competitiveness in the fifth, attempting to increase output and vary his attack, but Stevenson’s jab continued to dictate terms. Through five rounds, it was a one-sided affair, Stevenson controlling range and tempo while López searched for answers that never fully arrived.
The sixth brought the first visible damage. Stevenson opened a cut over López’s left eye while continuing to walk his man down. López did invest heavily to the body, digging shots to Stevenson’s midsection, but the work produced little visible slowing of the challenger’s pace or sharpness.
By the seventh, frustration began to show. López’s best hope seemed to lie in catching Stevenson in transition or baiting him into a mistake, but Stevenson’s ring intelligence left few openings that weren’t accounted for.
López found his best stretch in the eighth and ninth rounds when Stevenson eased off the gas, perhaps conserving his energy for the championship rounds. López built on it in the ninth, letting his hands go and landing heavy body shots in one of his stronger rounds of the fight. But even then, the broader picture remained unchanged.
Any sense of momentum quickly faded. Stevenson reasserted full control in the 10th, delivering a masterclass in distance management and pacing. López, by contrast, looked increasingly desperate to create exchanges. By the championship rounds, the physical toll on López was visible. Blood trickled from the cut over his left eye entering the 11th, and a corner that had descended into chaos struggled to slow it. López continued pressing forward but repeatedly ran into counters, Stevenson adding extra snap to his shots in the closing seconds.
The 12th unfolded as a formality. Stevenson boxed comfortably to the final bell, raising his gloves as the outcome felt inevitable long before the scorecards were read. Compubox’s punch statistics underscored the disparity: Stevenson landed more than twice as many blows (165) as did López (72).
The result marked another milestone for Stevenson, who added a championship at 140lb after already claiming world titles at 126lb, 130lb and 135lb. Afterward, he said the performance reflected years of refinement rather than reinvention. “This was the art of boxing: hit and don’t get hit,” Stevenson said. “I felt good. I picked him apart and I did what I was supposed to do.”
This is a developing story. More to follow.
Comments are closed.