Shakur Stevenson vs. Joet Gonzalez - October 26, 2019

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Fight Week !!

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Judges will be Nevada’s Eric Cheek and Dave Moretti, as well as Connecticut’s Glenn Feldman.

Nevada’s Tim Cheatham and Patricia Morse Jarman and California’s Max DeLuca also were included in the pool of potential judges NSAC executive director Bob Bennett considered submitting at the commission’s monthly meeting in Las Vegas.

The NSAC also assigned Nevada’s Vic Drakulich as the referee for the Stevenson-Gonzalez bout.

Bennett recommended Drakulich over veteran Nevada referees Robert Byrd, Jay Nady and Tony Weeks.

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At the final press conference Thursday, this is what the fighters had to say.

Shakur Stevenson

On Bob Arum's praise and taking the short track to a world title shot

"That means the world {to me}. I feel like that's the harder route. I feel like you could say whatever you want, but I feel like going pro and fighting a bunch of bums early in your career, I feel like that's the easy route. I feel like I went to the Olympics and fought the higher level of competition, and that's the reason I am who I am today."

To Gonzalez: "I also think in 2012 when he was fighting them bums, I was a freshman in high school at the time, bro. So I understand why you're mad at me, bro. It's all good."

Gonzalez's response: "Ain't nobody mad at you. Just show up Saturday and come to fight."

On Joet's experience

"I'm not sleeping on him. If I'm being honest, I always said Joet was good. Go look at my Tweets from two, three months ago. I always said he's a good fighter. He was the one who got up there and said Shakur was overrated. Saturday, he gotta put up everything he said."

Joet Gonzalez

"I most definitely had the harder road. Like you said, he was an Olympic silver medalist. He got the fast track. He got {a title shot} in two years. It took me seven years. I've been pro since 2012, so I've had the longer road. I have more experience. I'm older, more mature, and I think that is going to help me out Saturday night."

"His biggest test, as a pro or an amateur, is obviously for a world title. He's gonna have to do some crazy thing to beat me because I'm not leaving Saturday without that belt."

"I'm just anxious because all the hard work, it's already been done. Now we're just counting down the days, letting the days go by. Tomorrow will be weigh-ins and Saturday will be fight time."

On the personal beef with Shakur

"It fuels me because I was never the one to put this out there. The media, the public, they found out because of him. Just running his mouth. And now when they ask him about it, he don't want to talk about it. So, it's personal. It's personal, just the things he's done, the things he's said, and he'll pay for that on Saturday night."

Shakur's response: "It's personal for him. I'm not going in the ring with a personal mindset. I'm going in the ring to win a world title, so that's what I'm going to do to win this world title."

Joshua Greer Jr.

On his flashy ring attire and "Night Night" pillow

"Pressure either busts pipes or makes diamonds, and I'm going to continue to shine."

On his No. 2 ranking the pressure of a high ranking

"I had a great camp. I'm ready. At the end of the day, we're going to drag him through that fire, and he gonna have on some gasoline boxing trunks so you know he's burnt up."

Antonio Nieves

"I'm coming to do what I gotta do. It's a fight. At the end of the day, it's a fight. We're gonna fight. And that's what we do. I'm here to fight. He's here to fight. {If} he makes errors, we're going to capitalize on them. We're gonna fight him."

"We're ready 100 percent for whatever he brings."


Mikaela Mayer

"I don't know a lot about {Zamora}. There wasn't a ton of video on her, but we do study tape. We always come up with a game plan in our camp, so we have plan A, B, or C."

"There's been a lot of talk about my style, and I think a lot of people are impressed with how I've been going to the body and working on the inside, especially being a female and being tall, you just don't see a lot of that. I've really been working on that and then you see people talking about how I'm tall and long and I should use my reach more and stand on the outside, and I think it's just been a combination of me wanting to be good at both. My team doesn't want me to be a one-dimensional fighter. They don't want there to be a certain way to beat me, and because I'm tall and long, girls are going to want to pressure me, and there's going to be girls who are going to get me on the inside. So we want to be strong on the inside and box and move, so I've just been working on being able to put that all together."

"I definitely plan on upping my knockout record, and I plan on doing that Saturday."

"Whatever your reason is, if you think I'm a pretty girl and you want to see me get my ass beat, then tune in! Either way, it's going to be an exciting fight. I feel like I always put on exciting fights, so this Saturday is not going to be any different. I'm stronger than ever. We've had a great training camp, a long one, and I feel good."

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ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT

Shakur Stevenson vs. Joet Gonzalez, 12 rounds, vacant WBO featherweight world title
Mikaela Mayer vs. Alejandra Zamora, 10 rounds, Mayer's NABF super featherweight title
Joshua Greer Jr. vs. Antonio Nieves, 10 rounds, Greer's WBC Continental Americas and NABO bantamweight titles

ESPN+, 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT
Albert Bell vs. Frank De Alba, 10/8 rounds, lightweight
Francisco Esparza Jr. vs. Matt Conway, 8 rounds, lightweight
Xander Zayas vs. Genesis Wynn, 4 rounds, welterweight
Andy Vences vs. Mark Bernaldez 10/8 rounds, super featherweight
Jason Sanchez vs. Adeilson Dos Santos, 10/8 rounds, featherweight
Jared Anderson vs. Daniel Infante, 4 rounds, super bantamweight

SWING BOUTS

JJ Mariano vs. Sean Cerveny, 4 rounds, super lightweight
Diego Elizondo vs. Mike Sanchez, 4 rounds, lightweight

Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Golden Boy, Let's Get It On Promotions and Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, tickets for this world championship event priced at $110, $70 and $40 (not including applicable fees) can be purchased via Ticketmaster.com or in person at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa gift shop.

For more information, visit: www.toprank.com, www.espn.com/boxing; Facebook: facebook.com/trboxing; Twitter: twitter.com/trboxing.



Use the hashtags #StevensonGonzalez, #GreerNieves and #MayerZamora to join the conversation on social media.

[steve689]

Would love to see Gonzalez pull this off as I can't stand Stevenson, but don't think Joet will do it. He will push the fight hard though.

[Cent0089]

Who is this Gonzales guy? Do he has some chance in this fight ?

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

The fighter that will break Stevenson will be a relentless ace forward type because Stevenson cant punch hard enough to keep him honest.

Berchelt, Santa Cruz... those types. I dont think Joet is good enough to pull that off

[Best Coast]

If Stevenson beats Gonzalez as expected he will be the first guy from 2016 Olympics to win a world title as a pro. Many of us thought Teofimo Lopez would be the first one to do that but he wont be challenging IBF lightweight champ Richard Commey until December.

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If Stevenson beats Gonzalez as expected he will be the first guy from 2016 Olympics to win a world title as a pro. Many of us thought Teofimo Lopez would be the first one to do that but he wont be challenging IBF lightweight champ Richard Commey until December.

Who would have thought Haney would beat them both to it..

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The undercard begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

The undercard includes:

▪ Mikaela Mayer vs. Alejandra Soledad Zamora, 10 rounds, female junior lightweights
▪ Albert Bell vs. Frank De Alba, 10 rounds, junior lightweights
▪ Jason Sanchez vs. Adeilson Dos Santos, 10 rounds, featherweights
▪ Andy Vences vs. Mark Bernaldez, 10 rounds, junior lightweights
▪ Tyler McCreary vs. Matt Conway, eight rounds, junior lightweights
▪ Xander Zayas vs. Genesis Wynn, four rounds, welterweights
▪ Diego Elizondo vs. Jose Ceja, four rounds, lightweights
▪ Wilfredo Mariano vs. Trinity Lopez, four rounds, junior welterweights
▪ Jared Anderson vs. Daniel Infante, four rounds, heavyweights

Main card on ESPN+ at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada, on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET

▪ Shakur Stevenson vs. Joet Gonzalez, WBO Featherweight Title

▪ Joshua Greer vs. Antonio Nieves, 10-round, bantamweights

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Per NSAC, purses for Saturday’s Top Rank on ESPN+ card:

Shakur Stevenson $350k, Joet Gonzalez $200k;

Josh Greer $40k, Antonio Nieves $30k;

Mikaela Mayer 30k, Alejandra Soledad Zamora 20k;

Albert Bell 20k, Frank De Alba 12,500;

Andy Vences 20k, Mark Bernaldez 12k;

Jason Sanchez 12,500, Adeilson Dos Santos 7k;

Francisco Esparza 9k, Matt Conway 12,500;

Xander Zayas 3k, Genesis Wynn 3k;

Diego Elizondo 1k, Mike Sanchez 2k;

Wilfredo Mariano 1k, Sean Cerveny 1,200;

Jared Anderson 4k, Daniel Infante 3k.

[Best Coast]

If Stevenson beats Gonzalez as expected he will be the first guy from 2016 Olympics to win a world title as a pro. Many of us thought Teofimo Lopez would be the first one to do that but he wont be challenging IBF lightweight champ Richard Commey until December.

Who would have thought Haney would beat them both to it..

I'm a Haney fan but Devin was never in the 2016 Olympics, or any other Olympics for that matter. Stevenson can become the first but if he loses tonight Teo Lopez could be the first guy from Rio Olympics to win a pro world title!!

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Who would have thought Haney would beat them both to it..

I'm a Haney fan but Devin was never in the 2016 Olympics, or any other Olympics for that matter. Stevenson can become the first but if he loses tonight Teo Lopez could be the first guy from Rio Olympics to win a pro world title!!

I didn’t say Haney was in the Olympics. I just meant who would have thought he would beat them both to it..

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[Best Coast]

I'm a Haney fan but Devin was never in the 2016 Olympics, or any other Olympics for that matter. Stevenson can become the first but if he loses tonight Teo Lopez could be the first guy from Rio Olympics to win a pro world title!!

I didn’t say Haney was in the Olympics. I just meant who would have thought he would beat them both to it..

As much as I like Haney, having an Interim title (won over a limited guy like Zaur Abdullaev) being upgraded by WBC bureaucrats because regular WBC champ Loma was upgraded to "Franchise champion" is not the same as winning it in a ring. Too much alphabet politics.

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I didn’t say Haney was in the Olympics. I just meant who would have thought he would beat them both to it..

As much as I like Haney, having an Interim title (won over a limited guy like Zaur Abdullaev) being upgraded by WBC bureaucrats because regular WBC champ Loma was upgraded to "Franchise champion" is not the same as winning it in a ring. Too much alphabet politics.

I understand that.. it facts are facts. He is a world champion now..

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[oogiebe]

Has Jared Anderson fought yet?

[Best Coast]

Though Stevenson is a clear favorite, this is a winnable fight for Gonzalez. He is coming off an impressive KO6 over once-beaten Manuel Avila just 3 months ago. I look for a competitive battle for as long as it lasts.

[Best Coast]

I've got it 8 rounds to 1 for Stevenson. Gave Joet only the 7th round...

[margaret thatcher]

Boooring

[margaret thatcher]

Though Stevenson is a clear favorite, this is a winnable fight for Gonzalez. He is coming off an impressive KO6 over once-beaten Manuel Avila just 3 months ago. I look for a competitive battle for as long as it lasts.

Manuel Avila is nothing much, Shakur was obviously much much better than Joet

[Best Coast]

I've got 119-109. Not nearly as competitive as I expected. Very fluid display by Stevenson!!