Last November, three-weight world champion Shakur Stevenson (21-0, 10KOs) promised to put on a show as he took to the ring to face Edwin De Los Santos (16-2, 14KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena.
The sporting spotlight was bright on Las Vegas throughout fight week as the Formula 1 roadshow made a long-awaited return to the Las Vegas Strip after over 40 years. Stevenson had hoped to capitalise on the stage but ultimately he was subjected to boos from the stands.
Despite victory, his performance was well off and the fight was dull.
He and De Los Santos failed to deliver immensely, despite Stevenson successfully becoming a three-weight world champion courtesy of a unanimous decision to pick up the WBC world lightweight title, which Devin Haney had vacated.
There was a lack of action, with De Los Santos landing 40 punches over the 12 rounds, officially breaking a record for the least amount of punches landed in a WBC world title fight, according to Compubox. Stevenson’s stats did not fare much better, landing 65 punches from 205 punches thrown.
Stevenson was stung by criticism on social media but in a recent post, he praised De Los Santos and called him a top notch fighter.
“De Los Santos is a really good fighter,” wrote Stevenson on his social media accounts. “He’s world champion caliber with really good skills and has a great future.”
Due to the lack of action in the contest with De Los Santos, Stevenson has reconsidered his previous stance on a rematch and is willing to offer De Los Santos an opportunity to fight again.
“I’m for sure willing to give him a rematch down the line, but that night was his best shot at beating me, and he blew it,” Stevenson concluded.
