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By Ron Harris
January 31, 2026
New York – In team sports, the old saying is defense wins championships. In boxing, defense is important, but the winning fighters must be on offense enough to win rounds and possibly knock their opponent out. Shakur Stevenson is one of the best all-time defensive fighters to ever step in the ring. He is up there with Floyd Mayweather and Dwight Qawi, among others. On Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Stevenson won a unanimous decision over World Boxing Organization and Ring Magazine Super Lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez, to win his 4th division world champion. Doing it faster than any other fighter in history. Only 8 fighters have won at least 3 different division world championships. Stevenson, from Newark, New Jersey, is now 25-0. The fight was never close. The judges scored the fight 119-109 on all 3 cards. That is 11 rounds to one in favor of Stevenson. The one round given to Lopez, the 8th, was a round that Stevenson clearly took off.
Lopez 28, had no answers for Stevenson’s defense. He landed no hard punches, and, in several rounds, he landed less than 10 punches and none of them were hard shots. Stevenson’s jab from his southpaw stance was so accurate that Lopez left eye had a cut close to an inch long in the tenth round. His cut man could not stop the bleeding. Stevenson’s fights tend to be boring. He is so disciplined that he doesn’t take unnecessary risks and rarely mixes it up with his opponents. He is content to stick to his trainer’s advice and just win the fight. He is trained by his grandfather.
“This is the art of boxing. Hit and don’t get hit,” says Stevenson, 28. “I watched him and I knew my jab was going to kill him. I knew they would say after this fight that I had the best jab in boxing. I seen where he was weak at and I capitalized on it.” What he saw was that Lopez keeps his left hand down, which opens up clearly for Stevenson’s right jab. Stevenson came up in weight from 135 pounds to 140. “I felt like I was the stronger fighter and the faster and smarter and sharper fighter. I appreciate Theo for giving me the opportunity.” Stevenson said his good friend Terrence Crawford’s win over Canelo Alverez also gave him motivation to move up in weight and win.
Some fans think a defensive fighter runs and does a lot of moving. Shakur did none of that in this fight. He stood flat footed for most rounds and stuck his potent jab on the left eye of Brooklyn, NY native, Lopez all night long. His ability to be close to Lopez one minute and back away with quick feet and body movement the next. His right jab was quick as a bolt of lightning. There was nothing Lopez (22-2) could do. “Every dog has its day. Congratulations to Shakur,” says Lopez. Asked about Stevenson’s devastating defense, “I could say a lot of things but still they would all be the wrong things. He’s a great guy, a great fighter. We put everything on the line. We both came here to win. That is what champions are all about. Coming in here to win.”
Stevenson said only a “great fight” could keep him at 140 pounds. Let’s see what he decides to do. Lopez said he is a fighter and he will continue to fight.
Ron Harris is a retired college administrator, coach, broadcaster, Internet and TV sports producer and host. He’s also a former radio host of a live call-in show. Ron has been a mainstay of the Washington DC area sports landscape for decades covering all the major professional sports, college sports, boxing and more. Click here to go to Ron’s page and read more of his articles.
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