This Saturday, undefeated rising star Shakur Stevenson will return to his hometown of Newark, Modern Jersey to defend his WBC lightweight title against Artem Harutyunyan (12-1, 7 KOs) at the Prudential Center.

The 12-round fight is the main event for Top Rank on ESPN’s card. But an even bigger battle is looming — the battle for the rights to Stevenson’s future fights. The three-division world champion, arguably the best neat boxer in the sport, will finalize his deal with Top Rank on Saturday, taking part in the final fight of his contract with them.

Entering his prime at the age of 27 and with a plethora of potential large fights in the future, there’s no shortage of promotions and platforms eager to join forces with Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs). The question is: who has the best chance of securing his services?

Making money with Matchroom

Matchroom Boxing CEO Eddie Hearn has made no secret of his desire to sign Stevenson. “I think Shakur is, without a weight class, one of the best fighters in the world,” he told FightHub TV. “He may be unbeatable — he may be. He’s that good. But I think he’s come up huge. I think he’s a great fighter. I think he’d be a fantastic addition to the Matchroom team, and if he’s available, we’ll definitely talk. Whether it works for both of us, we’ll see.”

The last sentence is key. Hearn will likely have to meet the high guarantees of future prize money for Stevenson. And to get a return on his investment, he needs to put up a large fight for the slippery left-hander. That could prove to be a problem in a fragmented sport, compounded by the various promotions patrolling the 135- and 140-pound weight classes. Nevertheless, Hearn’s sturdy words suggest the British outfit will be aggressive in its efforts.

America first with Premier Boxing Champions

Stevenson and Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) seem like a natural fit. The talented American lightweight is on the verge of stardom, and PBC consistently puts on the biggest boxing events in the U.S. Not to mention the appeal of a fight with undefeated WBA 135-pound champion and boxing star Gervonta “Tank” Davis.

Davis says Stevenson will be one of his opponents in the recent long-term deal he signed with PBC. Stevenson isn’t sold. “I don’t know when I’m in that deal,” he told FightHype. “You don’t know what kind of fight it is. Let’s just say I’ll make a decision based on what he just said. In his six or seven fights, I could be sixth on that list.” Still, the Davis fight is Stevenson’s biggest. In addition, potential PBC fights with Isaac Cruz, Frank Martin and Alberto Puello are enticing.

Riyadh’s Season in Jersey

Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority, is making a stern foray into boxing. Alalshikh’s first U.S. appearance is Aug. 3, headlined by TIsrail Madrimov-Terence “Bud” Crawford. Crawford, by the way, is as close to Stevenson as plugs are to electrical outlets. Stevenson could follow in his friend’s footsteps and team up with Alalshikh. It’s a win-win situation, because the fighter gets the guarantee he wants, and Alalshikh gets a adolescent fighter with crossover potential—a sensible move if his proposed boxing league comes to fruition.

Stevenson remains reserved. “I wish Bud and everybody the best in this situation,” he told FightHype. “I don’t know anything about it, so I can’t really comment on it… I wouldn’t mind being in some shit like [the boxing league] if that makes sense.”

Back to the Future with Top Rank

Relations between Top Rank and Stevenson have become frosty. In an interview with Cigar Talk last month, Bob Arum said of Stevenson: “I talked to Eddie Hearn… and Eddie said, ‘I’m not paying him the money you’re paying him.’ And I don’t think [Premier Boxing Champions Founder] Al Haymon wants to sign more players… so Shakur is between a rock and a strenuous place… if nothing better comes up he’ll come back to us.”

Arum also suggested that Stevenson’s inability to win large fights was because he wasn’t a “large draw.” That’s not necessarily going to make Stevenson want to get back into Arum’s arms, but there’s a reason they call boxing “the theater of the unexpected.”

While those platforms are the most likely to land Stevenson, Mayweather Promotions could prove to be a wild card. Floyd Mayweather did his best to try and sign Stevenson after he won silver at the 2016 Olympics. Don’t be surprised if he tries again. Of course, Stevenson’s performance on Saturday night could be a factor. Often criticized for his businesslike approach in the ring, Stevenson has promised to be more aggressive with Harutyunyan. That could raise the stakes in what will likely be a stern bidding war — assuming, of course, he’s willing to sign another promotional deal.

Shakur Stevenson returns to the ring on Saturday to defend his WBC lightweight title against Artem Harutyunyan at the Prudential Center in Newark, Recent Jersey (ESPN/ESPN+, 8:30 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPN+ at 6:10 p.m. ET) in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing card that includes a junior lightweight title fight between WBC champion O’Shaquie Foster and perennial title challenger Robson Conceicao.

Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs) is a former featherweight and junior lightweight champion. He also won silver at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics while representing the United States. After winning the WBO junior lightweight title with a 10th-round TKO victory over Jamel Herring in October 2021, Stevenson added the WBC belt with a unanimous decision victory over Oscar Valdez in April 2022. But Stevenson lost the belts on the scales when he failed to make weight for his title defense against Conceicao in September 2022. He then moved up to 135 pounds and scored a sixth-round TKO victory over Shuichiro Yoshino in April.

In November 2023, Stevenson defeated Edwin De Los Santos by unanimous decision (116-112, 115-113, 116-112) to win the then-vacant WBC lightweight title in a forgettable fight that broke the 38-year-old CompuBox record for most punches landed in a 12-round fight. De Los Santos landed only 40 total punches and only 14 power punches. Stevenson didn’t fare much better, landing only 65 total punches, including 19 power punches.

Regardless, Stevenson returned to the fight at home.

“It’s good to come back home to Newark, where a youthful legend is being celebrated, and to defend my title at 135 for the first time,” Stevenson said on May 7 after the fight was officially announced.

Harutyunyan (12-1, 7 KOs), from Yerevan, Armenia (but based in Hamburg, Germany), has never fought for a world title. In his first fight outside of Germany, he suffered the only defeat of his career, a unanimous decision to Frank Martin last July in Las Vegas.

“I respect Shakur Stevenson as a champion, but I’m here to shock his hometown fans and win the WBC lightweight championship,” Harutyunyan said. “This is the chance of a lifetime and I’ll take full advantage of it.”

Let’s take a look at the title fight by the numbers. This report uses information from ESPN Stats & Information and CompuBox.

1. Stevenson will defend the WBC lightweight title, which he won in July 2023 by defeating De Los Santos.

3. This is Stevenson’s third lightweight fight. He made his lightweight debut in April against Yoshino.

13. Unlucky number 13 for Harutyunyan, who, after winning his first 12 professional fights, lost a unanimous decision to Martin, which was his first defeat in his career.

7. Stevenson is the youngest fighter to win a third-division title since Naoya Inoue did so in 2019. Stevenson is also only the seventh fighter to do so in history.

1. Harutyunyan is looking to become the first German fighter to win the lightweight world title. Marco Rudolph lost by eighth-round technical knockout to Artur Grigorian in 1998 for the WBO belt.

6. Stevenson is the sixth fighter to become a three-division champion and also win an Olympic medal. The other five fighters on this list (Sugar Ray Leonard, Pernell Whitaker, Roy Jones Jr., Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather) have been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Stevenson is also the sixth fighter to win titles in the 126-, 130- and 135-pound weight classes, the youngest of that group to accomplish this feat.

46.83. Stevenson lands 46.83% of his power punches, which is third best according to CompuBox. He also has the lowest percentage of his opponents being struck (16.7%) in all of boxing, according to CompuBox.

In Their Own Words – From Wednesday’s Press Conference

Harutyunyan on this possibility: “I was born in Armenia and grew up in Germany. I came here to fight Shakur Stevenson in his hometown. This is a great opportunity for me. I will give it my all and give a great fight.”

Harutyunyan on his last fight in the US: “I came to Las Vegas last year. I fought Frank Martin. It was a great fight. I know Frank Martin knows he lost the fight. I told everyone I was going to come back to the States. And now it’s done. I’m back here.”

Harutyunyan on his preparations for the fight: “It’s a great opportunity. I had a great training camp and I’m well prepared. I’m ready for this fight. I know Shakur Stevenson is a good fighter. He’s a world champion. We both fought in the Olympics. He’s a silver medalist and I’m a bronze medalist. Now we’re fighting for the world championship.”

Stevenson on Harutyunyan’s praise during Wednesday’s press conference: “You’re trying to act really humble, suck up to me, and pretend like you’re not really coming here to win. No, you’re coming here to win, man. I can tell. He doesn’t sound as confident as I thought. I hope he’s coming here to fight.”

Stevenson on his approach to fighting: “I’m going to take him to a level he’s never been at. I’m just going to be myself. I’m going to go out there and show my talent and my level. I think I’m one of the best in boxing when it comes to hitting and not getting hit. There’s a certain way to do it, and I want to show the fans that all this moving around is something I don’t really have to do. I can sit in the pocket and hit you too.”

Shakur Stevenson believes his fight with Artem Harutyunyan this Saturday night will be the perfect “benchmark” for fans who will compare him to Gervonta “Tank” Davis.

Tank (30-0, 28 KOs) defeated Frank Martin via eighth-round knockout on June 15 in a fight that went all the way to KO. Martin narrowly defeated Harutyunyan (13-1, 7 KOs) last year, defeating him by unanimous decision in 12 rounds on July 15, 2023.

Indigent choice of opponent

Shakur might have doubts about that, thinking fans would look at his fight with Harutyunyan as a measure of Tank Davis’ skills.

Die-hard boxing fans who saw the Martin-Harutyunyan fight have already formed an opinion about Shakur, who they think is a penniless choice of opponent, considering Artem lost to a guy who Tank knocked out in the eighth round.

Shakur’s only chance to impress the fans is to show courage, step into the penalty box and defeat Harutyunyan in a knockout victory. Anything less will be seen as a loss for Shakur in terms of his popularity, which will plummet.

“I think that’s a great metric. Because Tank fought Frank Martin and I fought Artem, we’re fighting the same level of opponents, damn close, because they [Martin & Harutyunyan] “We fought each other and we saw that they were on the same level,” Shakur Stevenson said MillCity Boxingfeeling that his opponent on Saturday night, Artem Harutyunyan, is a fighter of a similar skill level to Gervonta “Tank” Davis’ last challenger, Martin.

Harutyunyan is not a good point of reference for fans who compare Shakur to Tank Davis, because the fight with the guy looks terrible, especially considering he lost to Martin.

If Shakur wanted to impress the fans, he should have given Edwin De Los Santos a rematch because he could prove to the fans that he is capable of doing well against him while being 100 percent fit.

“Now you can evaluate our performances and get the fans a little excited,” Shakur said, putting a positive spin on his decision to fight Harutyunyan, who lost to Frank Martin.

Fans have already decided that Shakur is frail for choosing Harutyunyan as his opponent. The only way he can come out on top is by knocking him out on Saturday night.

Unfortunately, the chances of Shakur doing that are virtually zero. He fights too scared and won’t dare stand in the pocket to let go of his hands, even against a non-puncher like Harutyunyan.

Shakur wants to change his image

“I want to show everyone who I am. I think a lot of people have forgotten who I am as a fighter after one fight. [Edwin De Los Santos]“- Shakur said when asked what he would like to show the fans in his fight with the recently defeated 33-year-old Harutyunyan on Saturday.

“I don’t have consistent moments where I shine and look good, and then one night I have a bad day and everybody just hangs on to that,” Shakur said.

Unfortunately, Shakur’s fight with Edwin De Los Santos wasn’t the first time he’d been in a bad fight. He’d done the same thing in those fights:

-Joet Gonzalez
– Jeremiah Nakathilia
-Oscar Valdez
– Robson Conceição
– Jamel Herring
-Christopher Diaz

The odd duck in the professional ranks

Fans don’t often mention Shakur’s previous fights, but they weren’t very engaging to watch. Shakur used the same retreating style in the De Los Santos fight and made sure to rarely get hit.

While that’s great news for fans who enjoy watching defensive work, it wasn’t exactly stimulating. Shakur hasn’t changed his fighting style since his amateur days and fights the same way.

It doesn’t fit the professional game that fans are used to. Shakur is an oddball in the pro ranks, and it takes a special kind of fan to enjoy his approach to fighting.

There simply aren’t enough fans like that to make Shakur a real must-see star. If you put Shakur in a time machine and transported him back to the Mayweather era in the early 2000s, Floyd’s fans would appreciate his fighting style. Unfortunately, Shakur doesn’t fit that era.