Shakur Stevenson, On His Third Opponent, Will Face Alberto Guevara On July 13
Shakur Steveson will now have to prepare for his third opponent heading into his homecoming fight on July 13.
First, Stevenson was going to face Hairon Socarras, then Franklin Manzanilla, but now he will face former world title challenger Alberto Guevara. The 10-round featherweight bout will headline a Top Rank on ESPN card from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey
Guevera has twice challenge for a bantamweight world title in the past, first losing a 12-round decision against Leo Santa Cruz back in 2012 and then getting knocked out by Shinsuke Yamanaka in 2013. After losing to Yamanaka, Guevara went on to win nine of his next 11 fights with the two losses being to Emmanuel Rodriguez and Hugo Ruiz.
Stevenson, a former Olympic silver medalist from the 2016 Olympics, is coming off a dominant performance against former word title challenger Christopher Diaz on April 20 as part of the pay-per-view card for Terence Crawford’s WBO welterweight title defense against Amir Khan. Despite only having 11 fights as a pro, the unbeaten Stevenson has already emerged as a rising featherweight contender. Stevenson is also the current IBF Intercontinental and NABO featherweight champion and is ranked in the top five at 126 pounds by the WBA, WBO and IBF.
Also set for the ESPN-televised portion of the card is a 12-round super bantamweight title eliminator between Joshua Greer Jr. and Nikolai Potapov. The winner of the fight will then be ranked No. 2 in the IBF rankings at 122 pounds.