Shakur Stevenson defeats Artem Harutyunyan at home in Newark

J. R. Jowett reporting from ringside:

Top Rank and ESPN with matchmakers Bruce Trampler and Brad Goodman brought World Title boxing to Newark, NJ’s vast Prudential Center arena on 7/6/2024. No attendance was announced, but the arena was sold out (top deck closed). Fred Blumstein and Ray Ryan kept time. 

In the main event, local hero Shakur Stevenson, 134 ¼, Newark, 22-0 (10), defended his WBC Lightweight Title against Artem Harutyunyan, 134 ¾, Hamburg, Germany, 12-2 (7), over 12 rounds. Duran-Leonard this was not. But it did please the local fans. Stevenson, a slick, cautious southpaw, won as he pleased against the game but woefully short-handed challenger. Fighting out of a shallow stance, Artem trudged relentlessly forward all night, getting nailed with shots only to find his tormentor gone. The challenger constantly bobbed his shoulders, which may have cost Shakur a couple of slow rounds figuring him out. By the third, it was all over.

Shakur had the range with lead lefts that would pester Harutyunyan for the rest of the bout. Action was steady and earnest while not exceptionally thrilling. That was all the local crowd needed from their hero. In the sixth, a left to the body hurt Harutyunyan and backed him up, bringing up the crowd as Shakur poured it on. Action was brisk in the seventh, with Stevenson consistently outclassing the challenger and backing him up. The seventh may have broken the spirit of the challenger, as in the eighth, Artem changed tactics and began circling wide. Shakur tried to cut him off with some punishing body shots. The body attack had Artem again circling and the crowd up in ninth round action. This pretty well climaxed the contest, as the last three followed the pattern to the point of anticlimax. Lynne Carter scored 116-112, Guido Cavalleri 118-110, and Mark Lyson 119-109. Allen Huggins refereed. 

The first of co-feature twelves was for the WBC World Jr Lightweight Title. O’Shaquie Foster, 129 ¾, Orange, TX, 22-3 (12), defended against Robson Conceicão, 129 ½, Bahia, Brazil, 19-2-1 (9), in a good, close and competitive fight. A feel-out first set the pattern. The much bigger, standup Brazilian trudged relentlessly forward against the grimacing, circling and countering O’Shaquie. Neither style worked well and so action was tame and drew boos in the fourth. Robson responded by upping the pressure and pulled out the round. This established a pattern of long one-twos that built a lead for the challenger over the next few rounds, as O’Shaquie constantly shifted and tried to counter but was giving up the reach. Finally, Foster put together some scoring counters that won the eighth and built on this in a good ninth to cut Conceicão’s right eye and get the defending titlist back in the fight. Robson was undaunted, forced the action in the tenth, and refused to fold.

The eleventh was strangely tame, considering that the fight was on the line, with the Brazilian a bit busier. Robson was bailing out in the final round, possibly thinking that the win was in the balance. It wasn’t. Ring announcer Mark Shunock tallied a 116-112 score for Robson from Anthony Lundy, followed by the same score for O’Shaquie from Ron McNair. Finally, Mark Lyson scored 115-113, transferring the title to Robson Conceicão, as his corner went ballistic! Phew. It was a close fight but Robson’s dictating the pace and forcing the contest seemed to deserve the edge, while McNair may have favored style points for O’Shaquie. David Fields refereed. A lot of post-fight hoopla branded this a bad decision. It wasn’t. 

Keyshawn Davis, 134 ¾, Norfolk, 11-0 (7), readily defeated Miguel Madueño, 134 ¾, Guasave, MX, 31-3 (28), in an entertaining bout that was a mixture of street fight and theater, scheduled 10. However Miguel scored all those wins, it had to be in bouts that were more street fight than boxing. All night he relentlessly charged forward and did everything to create a physical brawl, grabbing, wrestling, even picking up Davis bodily and carrying him around. Ref David Franciosi had his hands full, even taking a shot on the jaw, but kept the mayhem on track enough to go the distance. Davis completely outclassed Madueño, who fought with a full beard, in almost every round. Mayhem started immediately, with Miguel telegraphing his punches while the slippery Davis employed movement to outclass him. Somehow Miguel fell on top of Keyshawn and then picked him up over his shoulders, setting the stage for similar antics in nearly every round. The Mexican was cautioned for holding and hitting in the second. He may have won the third, as he managed to mug Keyshawn on the ropes before Davis could get free to use his footwork. Keyshawn regained control in the fourth with some two-handed flurries that brough up the crowd. After being outboxed in the sixth, Miguel broke bad at the bell and then took a swipe which missed and tagged the ref instead, sending him reeling but refusing to go down. Both were on the canvas from wrestling to the bell in the eighth. The ref admonished them to “break clean” in the ninth, but after being tackled, Davis punished Madueño with an extended volley to the bell, then grandstanded in his corner. Amazingly, the second the bell ended the tenth, all hostilities immediately ceased, and the combatants called a truce. All judges, Steve Weisfeld, Mark Consentino, and John McKaie, scored 99-91. 

Eridson Garcia, 130 ¾, Santo Domingo via Houston, 19-1 (12), pulled a mild upset over William Foster III, 130 ½, E. Haven, CT, 17-2 (11), in an interesting but very tame 10. It took the bemused Foster until the third round to start fighting the elusive southpaw Garcia. Unfortunately, he included a low blow that got the dramatic Garcia a rest from ref Shada Murdaugh. William regrouped for the fourth and landed some sneak counters in a cat and mouse contest. Competition picked up in the fifth with Foster stalking and Eridson countering. This became the pattern for the rest of the contest, a tame but interesting clash of styles. William stalked but never showed real fire. Eridson circled away and pecked with light counters. Garcia got a rest from a low blow in the ninth, drawing some boos and picking up the action afterward. A good left uppercut possibly tilted the final round to Eridson, who gained a surprisingly wide unanimous verdict, possibly more from making his opponent look bad than from positive effort on his own part. Weisfeld and Robin Taylor scored 98-92, John Signorile 99-91. 

Kelvin Davis, 142 ¾, Norfolk, 13-0 (7), gained a hard-earned majority decision from Kevin Johnson, 142 ½, Detroit, 12-4 (8), in 8. A tall and spindly southpaw, Davis fought a rear-guard action by retreating and making the shorter Johnson track him down all night. The contest lacked sustained action but made up for it in tactics, as Johnson chased Davis, who had to keep him from turning it into trench warfare on the inside. Johnson landed a right late in the fourth that made Davis break and run. Tactics shifted from short to long range but never remained at either distance for long. Neither was able to establish dominance at any time and so a draw might have been more appropriate, which is how Weisfeld scored it, 76-76. Taylor and Signorile tilted the majority verdict to the house favorite, both 78-74. Glover refereed. 

By contrast, Abdullah Mason, 134 ¾, Cleveland, 14-0 (12), was impressive in TKOing a game but overwhelmed Luis Lebron, 135 ¾, San Juan, 20-6-1 (13), in 1:18 of the third of eight. After a feel-out first, the southpaw Mason put all his wares on display in a punishing second, as he let both hands go with short, sharp precision. Overwhelmed, the game Lebron could do nothing but take a beating, getting dropped twice in the second by combinations and with nose bleeding. In the third, with Lebron rattled and taking a relentless beating, his corner did the right thing and waived the towel. Ref Glover stopped it.  

A popular local prospect debuted in crowd-pleasing and impressive fashion, as Keith Colon, 125 ¼, Newark, battered and stopped Hunter Turbyfill, 124 ¼, Memphis, 4-2 (1), in 2:03 of the second of four. Despite experience, the visitor was out of his depth, as Colon battered his southpaw opponent from the start with jarring lead rights. A right uppercut dropped Turbyfill in the second and then he was overwhelmed and battered in a corner until rescued by referee Murdaugh. The compact winner boxed out of a squared stance, keeping guard high and tight, and appeared well schooled. 

Ali Feliz, 219 ½, Danbury, CT, 3-0 (2), gained a hard-earned victory over tough but outgunned Robinson Perez, 245 ¼, Southbridge, MA, 2-1, four. The tall and rangy Feliz made good use of height and reach to jab and batter his stubby opponent who was never effectively able to get inside. Robinson tried to close the distance in the third but paid for it, being hurt by a right, nose bloodied and battered. All scores (Weisfeld, Taylor, Signorile) 40-36. Ref, Glover.