Shakur Stevenson retained his WBC lightweight title by decision against Artem Harutyunyan on Saturday, July 6. The pair battled it out in the main event live on ESPN from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Stevenson was looking to defeat Harutyunyan inside the distance. Nevertheless, the contest went on for 12 full rounds. In the end, the scores were 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112, all in favor of the champion.
With the victory by unanimous decision, Shakur Stevenson made the first successful defense of his WBC lightweight title, improved to 22-0, 10 KOs and remained undefeated. Post-win, Newark’s 27-year-old southpaw said he was looking for more big fights.
“It’s kind of hard to prove it if you don’t have a fighter who wants to fight back,” Stevenson said. “He’s just trying to make sure he survives. He’s a good fighter. He’s tough. He’s strong. I would’ve wanted him to try a little harder, so that way it could be a more fun fight. I have to cut off the ring a bit more. He’d go one way and then go the other way, so I gotta go back in the gym and work on cutting off the gym.”
Artem Harutyunyan didn’t succeed in his first attempt to become champion, dropped to 12-2, 7 KOs and suffered his second defeat in a row. The 33-year-old contender of Germany by way of Armenia said he was looking to have more fights and needed more experience competing in the U.S.
“Of course it was fun,” Harutyunyan said. “Boxing is not a game. You have to fight. You get hit and have to hit back. It’s normal.”
Get Stevenson vs Harutyunyan full fight card results.