Shakur Stevenson

Early life

Stevenson was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He was named after rapper Tupac Shakur, who was murdered nine months before Stevenson was born. Stevenson began boxing at age five under the guidance of his grandfather, Wali Moses, who ran a boxing gym in the city. Growing up, his favorite boxer was Andre Ward.

Amateur career

Stevenson enjoyed a highly successful amateur career, earning recognition as the AIBA Junior Male Boxer of the Year in 2013. At the national level, he won gold medals at the 2013 Junior World Team Open, the 2013 Junior Olympic National Championships, the 2014 Youth National Championships, and the 2015 Youth National Championships.

At the international level, Stevenson won the 2013 AIBA Junior World Championships, the 2014 AIBA Youth World Championships, and the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, becoming the first American male boxer to claim both junior and youth world titles as well as a Youth Olympic gold medal. In 2015, aged 18, he won the senior U.S. Olympic trials, thus qualifying for the U.S. boxing team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Entering the Olympics, Stevenson had an undefeated record of 23–0 at the international level. Competing at bantamweight, he won a silver medal, losing to Robeisy Ramírez of Cuba by split decision in the gold medal match. He was the highest-medaling male boxer for the United States at the Olympic Games since Andre Ward won gold in 2004.

Professional career

Featherweight

Stevenson turned professional on February 9, 2017, signing a promotional contract with Top Rank. He signed Andre Ward as his manager.

Promoter Bob Arum told Ringtv that Stevenson would likely make his debut on a stacked card at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on April 22, 2017. Stevenson showed off his agility, defense and punching skills as he won his first professional fight against American boxer Edgar Brito. Stevenson won via fifth round technical decision. Brito was cut on the left eye after an accidental headbutt in round 2. In round 3, he was deducted a point for intentionally headbutting Stevenson. From his own intentional headbutts, Brito suffered a cut over his right eye. The ringside physician stopped the bout. Stevenson was ahead on all three judges scorecards and won every round.

In an official press release on May 3, it was confirmed that Stevenson would make his Madison Square Garden debut on undercard of the Terence Crawford vs. Félix Díaz on May 20, 2017. His opponent was announced as Argentine boxer Carlos Suarez (6–3–2, 1 KO). Stevenson won the bout after 2 minutes and 35 seconds of the first round. Suarez was knocked down before the stoppage. Stevenson's third bout took place at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska, again on the undercard of Terence Crawford, this time his unification fight against Julius Indongo on August 19, 2017. Stevenson fought his second straight Argentine opponent, David Michel Paz (4–3) in a scheduled six-round fight. Stevenson easily outpointed Paz over 6 rounds winning 60–53 on all three scorecards. In round 5, Paz was knocked down following a straight left. Stevenson seemed comfortable and patient in letting the fight go the distance. On November 20, Top Rank confirmed 26-year-old Mexican Oscar Mendoza (4–2, 2 KOs) as Stevenson's opponent, which would take place on the undercard of Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux on December 9, 2017, at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City, New York.

Stevenson's first fight for 2018 was announced on February 7 to take place at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino's Grand Theater in Reno, Nevada on February 16 against Juan Tapia (8–1, 3 KOs) in a scheduled 8 round bout. Stevenson easily outpointed Tapia, winning 80–72 on all three judges' scorecards. Stevenson showed defensive improvements in the fight, boxed with his jab and worked to the body. He used the distance well, allowing Tapia to land only one punch at a time.

Super featherweight

On June 9, 2020 Stevenson made his super featherweight debut by defeating Felix Caraballo via 6th round KO. The fight took place in Las Vegas. Caraballo was dropped in the opening round and again in round 6. The judges had Stevenson ahead 50–43, 50–44 and 50–44 at the time of stoppage. The fight drew a peak audience of 609,000 viewers.

In November 2020, Top Rank announced Stevenson would fight Toka Khan Clary (28–2, 19 KOs) on December 12 in a 10-round bout at The Bubble at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Stevenson originally came in over the limit at 130 ½ pounds, then stripped down and weighed 130 pounds. Kahn Clary weighed 129 pounds. Kahn Clary was on a three-fight win streak heading into the fight. Stevenson defeated Clary convincingly, winning the fight by a wide margin on the scorecards, with all three judges scoring the contest 100–90 in his favor. Stevenson landed 151 punches from the 514 thrown for a 29% connect rate. Kahn Clary only managed to land 48 of the 529 punches thrown for a very low 9% connect rate. The fight averaged 1,281,000 viewers.

After improving to 15–0, in April 2021, it was announced that Stevenson would next fight Jeremiah Nakathila (21–1, 17 KOs) on June 12, 2021, at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. Nakathila was ranked #2 by the WBO at super featherweight. Stevenson stepped on the scales at 129.6 pounds and Nakathila officially weighed 129.4 pounds.

Stevenson knocked down Nakathila with a check hook in the fourth round of their fight, en route to a shutout unanimous decision victory to win the vacant WBO interim junior lightweight title. The bout attracted criticism from pundits and analysts, citing the low number of punches thrown by Stevenson leading to a lack of action. So few meaningful punches were thrown that the ESPN commentators Joe Tessitore, Tim Bradley and Andre Ward who were calling the fight criticized Stevenson during the live broadcast of the fight. Stevenson also admitted he did not like his performance and tried to get the stoppage. He then said he was being cautious in the fight due to Nakathila's power. The fight drew an average audience of 857,000 and peaked at 927,000.

In September 2021, it was announced that Stevenson would challenge Jamel Herring (23–2, 11 KOs) for the full WBO junior lightweight champion on October 23 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. The fight would headline a three-bout broadcast by ESPN. Herring was coming off a career-best win earlier in the year, stopping former world champion Carl Frampton to retain his world title. Due to Stevenson holding the interim belt, Herring had to make a choice of either fighting him next or vacating. Oscar Valdez made it clear he wanted the winner of this bout next. Bob Arum who promoted all three boxers at the time also made it clear he would make the fight next. At the weight-in, a stone faced Herring weighed 129.8 pounds, and Stevenson came in at the 130 pound limit. Despite being the champion going into the fight, Herring was the underdog, however brushed it off saying, “Look at all my big fights. I was an underdog against Ito, Frampton, this one. So, it doesn’t mean much to me."

Lightweight

On November 9, 2022, the WBC ordered Isaac Cruz to face Stevenson in a lightweight title eliminator. As Cruz refused to enter into negotiations, the WBC ordered William Zepeda to face Stevenson instead, as the next highest ranked contender. Zepeda likewise passed on the fight, as did the former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. The order was finally accepted by Shuichiro Yoshino on January 11, 2023. It would mark the first time Yoshino would fight outside of Japan professionally. Stevenson was booked to face Yoshino on April 8, 2023, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Stevenson won the fight via sixth-round technical knockout. Stevenson landed 50% of his total punches (123 of 245) and 60% of his power shots (104 of 174), while Yoshino was only able to land a total of 36 total punches. The win earned him a shot at the WBC lightweight title. Stevenson used his jab and right hook to keep Yoshino at bay, while also mixing up his attack with body shots and uppercuts. Stevenson dominated the fight with his speed, accuracy and ring IQ, dropping Yoshino twice and landing at will until the referee intervened. According to Stevenson, the referee should not have stopped the fight, a he wanted to apply more punishment to Yoshino, who disagreed with the stoppage and played down Stevenson's power.

On August 26, 2023, the WBC ordered Frank Martin to face the former two-weight world champion Stevenson for the vacant lightweight title. As Martin later withdrew from the negotiations, Stevenson was instead ordered to face Edwin De Los Santos. The championship bout took place on November 16, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. De Los Santos claimed himself to be the real boogeyman of the division. Stevenson weighed 133.8 pounds and De Los Santos checked in at 134.3 pounds. Stevenson promised a dominant performance.

In a very uninspiring fight with practically no action for 12 rounds, Stevenson walked away with a unanimous decision victory, with scores of 115–113, 116–112, and 116–112 and became a three-weight world champion. In the opening two rounds, little happened as Stevenson landed more jabs than De Los Santos. The fans began to call for some action in round 3. The entire round, De Los Santos fought without a mouthpiece. In the fourth round what little punches connected came from Stevenson, all jabs. Any rounds which De Los Santos won, was due to landing a few more jabs than Stevenson. By round 9, there was speculation of Stevenson’s left hand being injured due to the volume of punches which were being thrown. Although referee Harvey Dock had little do to, what he failed to do was call for some action from the boxers. According to CompuBox, Stevenson landed a total of 65 out of 205 punches and De Los Santos landed 40 of his 316 thrown, the latter setting a record for the least amount of punches landed by a fighter in a twelve-round contest. Furthermore, neither fighter landed a double-digit number of strikes in any round, with the highest being nine punches by Shakur Stevenson in the ninth round, the only round where more than six punches were landed by either fighter. For comparison, the most punches landed by De Los Santos in a round were six punches in the tenth. The 40 punches landed in the fight was a CompuBox record for only a month, as Prograis landed only 36 over 12 rounds in a decision loss to Devin Haney. Stevenson later apologised to fans at ringside. He said, “Yo, that’s dope. I got Floyd to come to a Top Rank fight. He came here to support me. I appreciate Floyd. I apologized to him, I apologized to Andre Ward, I apologized to Terence Crawford, all my idols. I put on a bad performance. They came out to see a great performance and I put on a bad one." Most of the 6,703 fans in attendance also booed the fight.

Super lightweight

On September 1, 2025, it was reported that Stevenson had agreed terms to move up in weight and challenge WBO super lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez (22–1,13 KOs) in January 2026. Both boxers had actively engaged on social media and shown interest in the fight. The fight was expected to be part of a Premier Boxing Champions card and backed by Turki Alalshikh. Both expressed excitement for the matchup during the Crawford-Álvarez fight in Las Vegas. Stevenson was aiming to capture a fourth division title. While the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was the likely venue for the bout, it was stated that Stevenson’s camp preferred Madison Square Garden to avoid Lopez's hometown advantage. On November 5, it was reported that negotiations were advancing positively regarding the fight. A potential date was identified as January 31, which would strategically place the event between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl, potentially increasing its visibility and viewership. On December 1, the fight was announced to take place on January 31 in New York, as part of "The Ring VI," exclusively on DAZN. The fight would see Lopez defending his WBO and Ring Magazine junior welterweight title. Stevenson was aiming to become a four-division champion. On December 9, Madison Square Garden was confirmed as the venue. Stevenson admitted that their styles may pose difficulties for one another, and stated that execution will be crucial on fight night. He said, “He’s not going to win coming forward. He’s going to try and sit back and bring me to him. That style is something he is going to try to make me do. I do the same thing. So we are kind of similar in style." Stevenson was a heavy –350 favourite while Lopez was entering as a +250 underdog. According to Lopez, there was no rematch clause in the contract.

Zuffa Boxing

On July 9, 2026, it was announced that Stevenson had signed with Zuffa Boxing. Stevenson said, "With Zuffa Boxing, I’m going to go after the biggest fights in the sport and I will become the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world." Dana White regarded Stevenson as, "one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world." The move prompted debate over whether Zuffa’s promotional model could complicate potential bouts with fighters such as Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney, although Stevenson stated that his intention was to secure the biggest available matchups.

Personal life

Stevenson is the son of Malikah Stevenson and is the eldest of nine siblings. His father, Alfredo Rivera, was not involved in raising him. His father died of a heart attack on September 29, 2019. He is engaged to Lyric Ragston, a rapper and singer who performs under the name "Young Lyric". Their first child, a daughter, was born in December 2021.

According to a police report, Stevenson and fellow boxer David Grayton were involved in an altercation in a South Beach parking garage. The two fighters made comments to a group of people in a parking garage. Stevenson was arrested on July 1, 2018, and charged with misdemeanor battery. On June 18, 2019, Stevenson agreed to a deal where the charges would be dropped after one year of probation and 50 hours of community service. He had already paid the victims' medical expenses.

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

WBO featherweight champion (126 lbs)

WBC super featherweight champion (130 lbs)

WBO super featherweight champion (130 lbs)

WBC lightweight champion (135 lbs)

WBO junior welterweight champion (140 lbs)

The Ring magazine titles

The Ring super featherweight champion (130 lbs)

The Ring junior welterweight champion (140 lbs)

Interim world titles

WBO interim super featherweight champion (130 lbs)

Regional/International titles

WBC Continental Americas featherweight champion (126 lbs)

IBF Inter-Continental featherweight champion (126 lbs)

NABO featherweight champion (126 lbs)

Awards

The Ring magazine Performance of the Year: 2021 vs. Jamel Herring

AIBA Junior Male Boxer of the Year: 2013

New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame – Junior Olympic Boxer of the Year: 2012, 2013

New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame – Professional Boxer of the Year: 2019, 2021, 2022

Pigskin Club of Washington Boxer of the Year: 2016

U.S. Olympic Trials Outstanding Boxer Award: 2016

World Series of Boxing Boxer of the Week: 2016

Honors

Key to Essex County: January 8, 2020

In July 2024, Stevenson was awarded permanent recognition at the Prudential Center for his contributions to the city of Newark, New Jersey