Shakur Stevenson and Jeremiah Nakathila fight Saturday in a boxing match at the Virgin Hotels for the WBO interim junior lightweight title. Stevenson enters this fight with a 15-0 record that includes eight knockouts. Nakathila enters this fight with a 21-1 record that includes 17 knockouts.
This will be Stevenson’s seventh fight since 2019, and he’s coming off a December win over Toka Kahn Clary. Stevenson is coming off a comfortable victory where the judges gave him all 10 rounds. He’s now won three of his last five bouts by decision.
Stevenson is a decorated olympian who is improving his pro resume and starting to gain more national attention. Almost 24 years old, Stevenson is a southpaw who stands at 5’8” and has a 68-inch reach. He is a technically sound boxer with good movement, impressive defense and doesn’t take much damage. You can see Stevenson work his way through a fight mentally and pick his spots rather than be wild with his offense. Stevenson doesn’t have overwhelming power, but he does have a strong right hook that he likes to throw in combinations.
Most of Stevenson’s knockouts have come rather early in the fight. Already an accomplished young fighter, Stevensonis worth keeping an eye on over these next few years. This will be Stevenson’s first career fight in Las Vegas.
Nakathila has won 10 straight fights, and he’s coming off a December win over Emmanuel Amos. Nakathila is coming off a second round knockout and he’s finished each of his last 14 victories overall. Obviously, this will be the biggest fight of Nakathila’s career.
Nakathila is from Namibia and is 31 years old, and he’s also a warrant officer for the Namibian Police. He doesn’t have much of a resume in terms of competition and his hand speed is questionable at best. However, Nakathila does have legit punching power and has knocked out cold some of his opponents. Nakathila has the punching power to shock the world with an upset and sometimes that’s all you need.
Win, lose or draw, we’re going to learn a lot about Nakathila in this fight. This will be Nakathila’s first career fight in the United States.
While the punching power is real, it’s hard to seriously give Nakathila a shot given the lack of quality opponents. You don’t fight tomato cans your whole career and then beat an olympic champion and star in the making. It also usually takes more than power to pull off an upset.
Stevenson is head and shoulders the more balanced fighter of the two and his speed will be the difference here. This should be a boxing lesson from Stevenson if we’re being honest.
Give me Stevenson by knockout to shave down the ML price.