On ESPN: Shakur Stevenson Vs. Edwin De Los Santos & Emanuel Navarrete Vs. Robson Conceição On November 16

By Adam Baskin: Shakur Stevenson will face Edwin De Los Santos for the vacant WBC lightweight title & Emanuel Navarrete will defend his WBO super featherweight belt against Robson Conceição in a doubleheader on ESPN on November 16 at the T-Mobile  Arena in Las Vegas.

The event starts at 10:30 p.m. ET and will be shown live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+.

Stevenson vs. De Los Santos & Navarrete vs. Conceicao event will take place on Thursday,  November 16th, to take advantage of the huge interest in the Formula 1 Grand Prix that is taking place on that date in Las Vegas. There will be a lot of fans watching on ESPN.

Shakur (20-0, 10 KOs) and De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KOs) will meet in battle for the vacant WBC 135-lb belt that undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney abandoned to go up to 140.

Stevenson has been bragging about himself something fierce lately, and he’s got to back it up because he hasn’t fought any elite-level guys. Moreover, his fighting style isn’t what you would call exciting.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum used to rail about the fighting style of Guillermo Rigondeaux being dull, but Shakur’s has been far worse because he doesn’t stay in the pocket, throws exclusively Mayweather-esque potshots, and uses that dull pull-back style.

“This is a tremendous platform for Shakur Stevenson to show why he is well on his way to reigning as the sport’s pound-for-pound king,” said Arum. “Many fighters turned down the opportunity, but Edwin De Los Santos eagerly accepted.

The defensive artist Shakur hasn’t had fighters interested in facing him because he is hard to hit, and the money isn’t huge yet because he’s not a PPV attraction.

If fighters are going to take a risky match that they’ll likely lose, they want to be paid the kind of money that they can retire on or live comfortably with. Until Shakur becomes more marketable,  he’s going to have a hard time getting the top guys to face him.

The WBC has a bad rep as of late, with them letting their champions sit on their titles without defending them. Hopefully, Shakur doesn’t turn into one of those types of champions who sits on the WBC belt for years without making a defense, as we’re seeing with the likes of Tyson Fury & Jermall Charlo.

Boxing fans will be more interested in the Stevenson-De Los Santos fight than the Navarrete-Conceicao match, as that involves an aging 34-year-old Conceicao, whose recent ring record is 1-2-1, which is not exactly what you want seeing a challenger for a world title.

Shakur is a good fighter, but he’s winning world titles against beatable opposition. It’s great that he’s vying for his third-division world championship belt, but he’s not faced any elite guys. His title wins were against an old Oscar Valdez, Jamel Herring, and Joet Gonzalez.

We fighting to become 3 division world champ in 21 fights by 26 years old.. No matter how much they try to downplay it that’s faster then a lot of the greats we know and a lot of these fighters nowadays do yo HW this a legacy fight. #StillChasingGreatness 😤

— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) September 27, 2023