Shakur Stevenson vs Josh Padley Preview Feb. 22nd, 2025
Unbeaten WBC Lightweight Champion and former WBO and WBC Jr. Lightweight Champion Shakur Stevenson defends the title in Saudi Arabia against undefeated Josh Padley of England this Saturday, Feb. 22nd. Padley is a late replacement for original opponent Floyd Schofield, who pulled out due to illness. The 12-round battle can be seen on pay-per-view in most nations. Stevenson last fought in July when he beat Artem Harutyunyan by unanimous decision. Stevenson beat Edwin De Los Santos by unanimous decision in a truly awful fight in November, 2023 to win the vacant belt. Padley’s last outing resulted in a 10-round unanimous decision over Mark Chamberlain in October. Chamberlain was down in the eighth round and had a point deducted in the ninth for pushing.
Stevenson vs Padley Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Josh Padley +700
- Shakur Stevenson -1250
My Pick
The 27-year-old Stevenson of Newark is a southpaw enters the ring with a perfect mark of 22-0 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 157 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. 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.
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 45.5 per cent and has gone the distance in six of his last eight 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 29-year-old Padley hails from Doncaster and makes the ring walk with a perfect mark of 15-0 with 4 Ko’s and has 90 rounds of experience under his belt since making his pro debut in 2019 following an amateur career. Unfortunately there’s no height and reach information for the Englishman so we don’t know how he stacks up size-wise against Stevenson. As far as power is concerned, Padley is lacking in this area as his current knockout ratio clocks in at just 26.7 per cent.
Padley has recorded just four stoppages as a pro but three of them have come in his past four fights. He won the British Central Area Lightweight Title in March, 2023 with a decision over Jimmy First and then captured the vacant Universal Boxing Organization Lightweight Belt nine months later by stopping Lydon Chircop after six rounds. Padley’s taking a huge step up in class this weekend as just five of his 15 opponents entered the ring with a winning record.
Prediction…
Stevenson’s game plan is generally to try and not get hit while using his master boxing skills and footwork to outbox his opponents and that usually results in a boring fight for the fans. However he did show a bit more aggression against Valdez, Herring and Yoshino but the contest 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. Hopefully Padley will show some aggression and force Stevenson to throw some leather in return. There’s not much point trying to outbox Stevenson so he should be letting his hands go at every opportunity. That’s easier said than done though and Padley doesn’t have the power to stop Stevenson so this fight has snoozefest written all over it. I’m expecting Stevenson to defend the belt without any excitement and drama.
Play Stevenson -1250@ BetOnline.ag
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Josh Padley betting • Shakur Stevenson betting