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Shakur Stevenson marked his lightweight debut with a dominant stoppage win over Shuichiro Yoshino before calling out the division’s undisputed champion Devin Haney.
The former featherweight and super-featherweight world champion made light work of his previously unbeaten Japanese opponent, knocking down Yoshino in the second and fourth rounds before the referee stopped the contest in the sixth session of a hugely one-sided contest.
Stevenson moved up to the 135lbs limit after being stripped of his super-featherweight titles in September last year having failed to make weight for a title defence against Robson Conceicao, and the 25-year-old immediately looked comfortable in his new setting.
The 2016 Olympic silver-medallist’s professional record now stands at 20-0 with 10 knockouts, and he has immediately set his sights on a clash with fellow American Haney after becoming the mandatory challenger for the division’s WBC title.
Haney (29-0) is scheduled to defend his belts against former champion Vasiliy Lomachenko in Las Vegas on May 20, live on Sky Sports, and Stevenson says he is ready to take on the winner, but appeared to hold particular confidence over a potential matchup with the current champion.
“Tell them ‘come on’,” Stevenson said in the ring after his victory in New Jersey.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.
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Devin Haney maintained his status as undisputed lightweight champion with a convincing win over George Kambosos Jr in October 2022.
“Me and Devin been in the ring with each other for years, I always got the best of Devin.
“Tell him ‘come on’.”
Yoshino, who was fighting outside of Japan for the first time, went into the contest sitting fourth in the WBC’s lightweight rankings.
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