Last night, at the Prudential Center in Newark, in the main event of the card organized by Bob Arum’s Top Rank, Shakur Stevenson (22-0-0, 10 KOs) effortlessly defended his WBC lightweight world title against German-Armenian challenger Artem Harutyunyan (12-2-0, 7 KOs). Stevenson’s superiority was never in doubt, as evidenced by the final scores: 116-112, 118-110, and 119-109, all in his favor. However, not everyone appreciated the American’s performance due to his habit of doing the bare minimum to win rounds without trying to excite the audience.
As the great George Foreman once said, “Boxing is like jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it.” The general public loves fearless warriors who attack relentlessly, never taking a step back, accepting hard blows, and continually seeking furious exchanges. Such fighters, however, often make mistakes, neglect defense, and become vulnerable, making the fight uncertain and full of twists and turns, just as people like it. Shakur Stevenson is the exact opposite of this description: the American doesn’t risk a punch unless he’s sure it will land, meticulously cares for his defense, and doesn’t deviate from his script regardless of any murmurs of disapproval from the stands.
In last night’s fight, this attitude was particularly evident in the first four rounds, when he circled around, limiting offensive sorties to a minimum and contenting himself with making the majority of the eager challenger’s punches miss with incredible ease. Despite the lack of action, the judges’ eyes were drawn to Shakur’s precise dodges, contrasted with Harutyunyan’s continuous failed attempts to land a hit.
From the fifth round onward, however, Stevenson changed his tactical strategy, staying much closer to his opponent and challenging him on seemingly favorable ground. This didn’t alter the dynamics of the fight; instead, it made the champion’s superiority even more clear and evident. Harutyunyan couldn’t land clean punches even when extremely close to his rival, who neutralized his blows with upper body and head movements and the wise use of his arms.
If at the start an extremely generous judge with the challenger might have awarded him one or two rounds for mere stylistic preference, once Stevenson shifted gears, the Armenian-German fighter wasn’t left with even crumbs. The champion didn’t put on a fireworks display, limiting himself to combinations of two or at most three punches before returning to his composed guard, but he consistently performed the qualitatively superior work, increasing his advantage each round and finishing the match without a mark on his face.
The unanimous decision by the judges was inevitable, although it’s rather mysterious how judge Lynne Carter managed to award four rounds to Harutyunyan. The writer of this piece only gave him one round, arriving at a final score of 119-109. Stevenson might not please everyone, which is naturally legitimate, but his ability to completely nullify the boxing of those in front of him has few equals in the world. We now wait to see him against the strongest lightweights on the planet to discover if they too will be powerless against his superb defense. From Lomachenko and Davis to Zepeda, there’s no shortage of big names to put in front of him.