Shakur Stevenson made it sound easy and look even easier.
He dominated Teofimo Lopez to win a title in a fourth weight class, taking a unanimous decision Saturday night at Madison Square Garden to capture the WBO junior welterweight belt.
“This is the art of boxing,” Stevenson said. “Hit, don’t get hit and pick guys apart.”
Stevenson (25-0) may have mastered that combination as well as anyone in boxing right now.
The unbeaten southpaw was in control the whole way, hardly getting hit in the early rounds and opening a cut over Lopez’s left eye later in the bout. All three judges scored the fight 119-109, giving just one round to Lopez.
“I picked him apart, I did what I was supposed to do,” Stevenson said.
Lopez (22-2) tried to press the action, but too often all that accomplished was leaving himself open to Stevenson’s counter punches.
The current WBC lightweight champion added the 140-pound belt that Lopez held and will be tough to beat no matter which weight class he opts to remain in. Stevenson traded words in the ring afterward with Conor Benn, the British fighter who has largely fought as a welterweight.
Turki Alalshikh, whose Ring Magazine promoted the event, tweeted that the attendance of 21,324 was a record for a boxing event at the current Madison Square Garden, opened in 1968. The crowd that roared for both local fighters in the minutes before the bout didn’t have many chances to get loud once it began. It was clear early that Stevenson’s style, effective but not especially exciting, was going to control the fight.
Unable to match what might be Stevenson’s best-in-boxing foot speed, Lopez was often forced to lunge forward in hopes of connecting, putting himself at risk for shots that came back faster and even most times harder. The area around his left eye was red by the eighth round and blood streamed down his face after a cut opened in the 10th.
Lopez had little explanation for why the fight went so poorly for him.
“I could say a lot of things. Still going to be the wrong thing,” he said.
Stevenson entered the ring and reunited with Terence Crawford, the retired multidivision champion who is an adviser to the Newark, New Jersey, fighter.
There was then a lengthy wait before Lopez’s ring walk turned into a dance performance, as he was joined by the Jabbawockeez.
Lopez kept up with them better than with Stevenson.
The Brooklyn product came aggressively out of his corner when the fight began, but Stevenson was mostly able to keep him from getting close enough to land much and soon began to find openings to score with lefts. He knocked Lopez off balance with one of them in the fourth round, caught him right on the chin with a couple of right jabs in the sixth, and by then it was becoming no longer a question if Lopez would win the fight but if he would even win a round.
Stevenson was better than a 3-to-1 favorite according to BetMGM Sportsbook, but two of Lopez’s finest performances had come as the underdog in title fights. The first came when he beat Vasiliy Lomachenko in a 135-pound bout in 2020, and he knocked off former undisputed 140-pound champion Josh Taylor in 2023.
But Stevenson might be in a different class than even those greats. He also has held belts at featherweight and super featherweight with his top defensive skills and just as much offense as he needs. He said he not only felt faster than Lopez, but surprisingly also stronger.
It was a good night for Brooklyn boxers earlier in the event.
Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (17-0, 10 KOs) won the WBC featherweight title by knocking out Carlos Castro in the ninth round. Heavyweight Jarrell Miller overcame a mid-fight hair misfunction to edge Kingsley Ibeh by split decision and improve to 27-1.
Also, former lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis (14-0, 10 KOs) made an impressive move up to 140 pounds, knocking Jamaine Ortiz down twice and stopping him in the 12th round. Davis then indicated he wants to move up again to face welterweight champion Devin Haney.