Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunyan Preview July 6th, 2024
Unbeaten WBC Lightweight Champion and former WBO and WBC Jr. Lightweight Champion Shakur Stevenson of Newark, New Jersey defends the title in his home town against Artem Harutyunyan of Armenia this Saturday, July 6th. The 12-round battle can be seen live in America on the full ESPN platform while fans in the UK and Ireland can catch it on Sky Sports Action. Stevenson last fought in November when he beat Edwin De Los Santos by unanimous decision in a truly awful fight to win the vacant belt. Stevenson beat Robson Conceicao via a unanimous decision in September, 2022 but was stripped of his WBO and WBC Junior Lightweight Belts for missing weight. He had won the WBO Title in October, 2021 by stopping Jamel Herring in the 10th round and added the WBC version when he beat Oscar Valdez by unanimous decision in April, 2022. Harutyunyan last boxed in July when he dropped a 12-round unanimous decision to Frank Martin.
Stevenson vs Harutyunyan Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Artem Harutyunyan +1200
- Shakur Stevenson -2500
My Pick
The 26-year-old Stevenson is a southpaw enters the ring with a perfect mark of 21-0 with 10 Ko’s. He enjoyed an excellent amateur career as he won a USA Junior National Championship and World Junior Championship in 2013. The next year he captured the USA Youth National, Youth Olympic Games and World Youth Championships. He won the USA Youth National Title in 2015 as well as the Olympic trials and qualifiers.
He then fought at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and won the silver medal as a bantamweight. Since turning pro in 2017 he’s boxed 145 rounds and has also captured the IBF Inter-Continental, WBC Continental Americas, and WBO NABO Featherweight Titles as well as the WBO Featherweight Crown. Stevenson stands 5-feet-8-inches tall and owns a 68-inch reach.
He’s certainly not not known as a KO artist by any means though as he possesses average power with a current knockout ratio of 47.6 per cent and has gone the distance in five of his last seven fights. He displays fine boxing skills and speed and has plenty of long-term championship potential in multiple weight classes. Along with beating Shuichiro Yoshino, Robson Conceicao, Oscar Valdez and Jamel Herring he also has wins over Joet Gonzalez, Alberto Guevara, Jeremia Nakathila, Christopher Diaz, Jesse Cris Rosales and Juan Tapia.
The 32-year-old Harutyunyan fights out of Germany and makes the ring walk with a mark of 12-1 with 7 Ko’s. His lone defeat was to Frank Martin the last time out. He’s boxed 83 rounds since turning pro in 2017 following a successful amateur career. He won a bronze medal at the 2013 European Championships and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as a light welterweight. He won the vacant BDB International Super Lightweight Title in 2018 when he halted Merab Tukadze in the eighth round and added the vacant IBO Continental Crown a year later with a 10-round unanimous decision over Hugo Santilan.
The vacant IBO International Super Lightweight Title was next in November 2019 when Harutyunyan earned a 10-round majority decision over Islam Dumanov. He then added to his collection of belts by capturing the vacant WBC International Title in October, 2021 with a fifth-round stoppage of Samuel Molina. Harutyunyan stands just over 5-feet-7-inches tall and unfortunately has an unlisted reach, so is just half-an-inch shorter than Stevenson. As far as power goes, Harutyunyan’s 58.3 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage and he’s also gone the distance in five of his past seven contests.
Prediction…
Stevenson’s game plan is generally to not get hit and use master skills and footwork to outbox his opponents but he did show a bit more aggression against, Valdez, Herring and Yoshino. However his fight against Edwin De Los Santos was one of the worst in the history of the sport. Stevenson’s very good defensively but unless you’re a purist you may find the majority of his fights to be almost unwatchable since he’s rarely pushed to the limit. Harutyunyan is a naturally more aggressive boxer who needs to stick to his strengths against Stevenson. There’s no point trying to outbox him so he should be letting his hands go at every opportunity to try and punish the champion. Hopefully he’ll attempt to take the fight to Stevenson, test his chin and make him fight back. That’s easier said than done though and unless he has the power to stop Stevenson, he’s not going to win this fight. I’m expecting Stevenson to utilize his superior skills to easily defend the belt, but don’t expect much excitement or drama.
Play Stevenson -2500@ BetOnline.ag
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Artem Harutyunyan betting • Shakur Stevenson betting