BoxRec

Shakur Stevenson misses weight, stripped of 130-pound titles ahead of Friday's fight vs. Robson Conceicao

Shakur Stevenson failed to make weight Thursday ahead of his fight against Robson Conceicao on Friday in Newark, New Jersey, and will be stripped of his two 130-pound titles, per championship fight rules governed by the WBO and WBC.

The 25-year-old weighed 131.6 pounds and had two hours to shed 1.6 pounds but determined he couldn't lose the excess weight.

"I gave it my all," tweeted Stevenson, ESPN's No. 1 junior lightweight. "I've been professional my whole career and made weight, but my body just can't make 130 anymore. My health has to come first. I'm moving up to 135 in my next fight."

Conceicao, an Olympic gold medalist, will be eligible to win the two vacant titles, which will remain vacant if he loses. Stevenson and Conceiao reached an agreement on a financial penalty for Stevenson's failure to make weight in order to allow the fight to proceed, sources said. Stevenson was scheduled to earn $3 million, per sources.

Conceicao, a 33-year-old from Brazil, weighed 129.6 pounds for the second title opportunity of his career. His other crack at a championship came in September 2021, when he dropped a controversial decision to Oscar Valdez.

Valdez was allowed to fight, despite the presence of a banned substance in his system following a positive test weeks before the bout. Conceicao (17-1, 8 KOs) rebounded with a rout of Xavier Martinez in January while Valdez was dominated by Stevenson in April.

Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs) will be fined by the New Jersey State Athletic Commission.

Stevenson formerly held a title at 126 pounds. An Olympic silver medalist, Stevenson could seek high-stakes fights with fellow Top Rank boxers Devin Haney, the undisputed lightweight champion, and Vasiliy Lomachenko at 135 pounds.

Date: Friday September 23, 2022
Location: Prudential Center - Newark, NJ
TV/Stream: ESPN

Start Times
ESPN+: 6 pm ET | 3 pm PT | 11 pm BST (Preliminary Card)
ESPN: 10 pm ET | 7 pm PT (Main Card)
Sky Sports: 1 am BST (Main Card)

Promoted by: Top Rank Inc.

Main Card

Unified WBC, WBO & Ring Magazine Super Featherweight Championship (only for Conceicao / Stevenson lost the belts on the scales)
Shakur Stevenson vs. Robson Conceicao

8 Round Lightweight Bout
Keyshawn Davis vs. Omar Tienda

Undercard

8 Round Super Featherweight Bout
Henry Lebron vs. Andy Vences

4 Round Welterweight Bout
Antoine Cobb vs. Jaylan Phillips

6 Round Welterweight Bout
Jahi Tucker vs. Jose Luis Sanchez

6 Round Featherweight Bout
Bruce Carrington vs. Jose Argel

6 Round Welterweight Bout
Pablo Valdez vs. Noe Alejandro Lopez

8 Round Featherweight Bout
Orlando Gonzalez vs. Misael Lopez

6 Round Super Bantamweight Bout
Floyd Diaz vs. Juan Hernandez Martinez

Good news is Shak Is surellly going to 135 baby. wooooooo get him up there.

Hopefully people don’t think this is tomorrow night.

Typical-fight delayed because the football game that preceded it is not over yet.

Well this is very messy.

Keyshawn could be fun, Very young, going to get every oppertunity to improve, but i wasnt particularly impressed there. Didnt look like a silver medalist. Power looks questionable to be honest, but hopefuly grows into that.

Shakur is outclassing Conceicao, but comentators are being fucks. disconting anything good he does, quoting some shockingly wrong punch stats, excusing a joke knockdown... shakure every round, but he is elite...

He made Robson look so ordinary.

Well done for breaking records

He is boring, but hes a boxing masterclass. It is not easy to outclass Conceicao like that. I would probably favor Stevenson over Lomachenko now

I'm super high on Shakur, I believe he's one of the best talents in the sport. I don't think he looked that sharp last night though. He got tagged too much, his footwork was sub-par and he just wasn't that focused.

Maybe he was bored in there, maybe not making weight had something to do with it. He didn't look nearly as sharp as he has in his previous fights. I still feel he beats everyone at 135, but that version of him we seen last night wasn't that guy.

NateJR wrote: ↑24 Sep 2022, 07:13 I'm super high on Shakur, I believe he's one of the best talents in the sport. I don't think he looked that sharp last night though. He got tagged too much, his footwork was sub-par and he just wasn't that focused.

Maybe he was bored in there, maybe not making weight had something to do with it. He didn't look nearly as sharp as he has in his previous fights. I still feel he beats everyone at 135, but that version of him we seen last night wasn't that guy.

Yeah, but i am wondering how long will Haney, Shakor and Davis avoid each other.

I thought conceicao put up a fight. Stevenson is a great boxer hurt con in the 3rd with left hook I think Stevenson got frustrated he couldn't get con out so hiptossed him in the 9th didn't cost him this time but wants to get that out of his game especially he had that petrol station stuff. So he can be rattled won close to all the rds for me but looks like he was going through the motions a lot had a decent a 11

NateJR wrote: ↑24 Sep 2022, 07:13 I'm super high on Shakur, I believe he's one of the best talents in the sport. I don't think he looked that sharp last night though. He got tagged too much, his footwork was sub-par and he just wasn't that focused.

Maybe he was bored in there, maybe not making weight had something to do with it. He didn't look nearly as sharp as he has in his previous fights. I still feel he beats everyone at 135, but that version of him we seen last night wasn't that guy.

I agree looked like he got bored knew that the pace he was at was winning didn't step it up which is a shame as he is nt a super star yet and he did get tagged alot not huge shots but

Shak may be the top young fighter in the world right now. Hope he can get strait into the mix at lightweight. Reallll shame he missed weight here because otherwise WBO probably would of thrown him strait into a vacant title shot (after haney and kambo i guess some split)... but it will be hard for them to reward him after missing weight.

Stevenson-Conceicao Fight Averaged 1,097,000 Viewers On ESPN, Peaked At 1,150,000