Shakur Stevenson vs Shuichiro Yoshino Preview & Picks – Stevenson To Win Lightweight Debut On Points

Shakur Stevenson is tipped to maintain his unbeaten record.

Stevenson is the more skilled of the two fighters and is likely to outclass Shuichiro Yoshino for the full 12 rounds.

Shakur Stevenson is a former world super-featherweight champion with a perfect 19-0 (9 KOs) record.

Stevenson became a world champion for the first time in his career when he won the WBO title in June 2021.

Having beaten Jeremiah Nakathila by unanimous decision to win the interim belt in June 2021, he became full champion later that year when he stopped Jamel Herring in the 10th round.

The 25-year-old American then added the WBC and Ring Magazine titles with a unanimous decision victory over Oscar Valdez in his first outing of 2022.

Stevenson successfully retained those titles in September 2022, beating Robson Conceicao by unanimous decision.

He failed to make weight for that fight though, and that played a big reason in his decision to move up to lightweight for this fight with Shuichiro Yoshino.

Shuichiro Yoshino has held regional titles in his native Japan and has a perfect 16-0 (12 KOs) professional record.

Yoshino made his pro debut in December 2015 and in his sixth fight he won the vacant Japanese title, stopping Spicy Matsushita in the seventh round.

He made several successful defences before stepping up a level to fight for the WBO Asia Pacific title.

Yoshino won that belt by knocking out Harmonito Dela Torre in the first roundm and went on to successfully defend that title with a unanimous decision win against Valentine Hosokawa in September 2020.

The 31-year-old Japanese fighter put that title on the line twice in 2022, winning each fight inside the distance.

Yoshino beat Masayki Ito by technical decision after the fight was stopped due to a cut sustained by the challenger, and he then knocked out Masayoshu Nakatani in the sixth round.