Shakur Stevenson moving up to junior lightweight

Shakur Stevenson is vacating the WBO featherweight world title to move up to the junior lightweight division.

"We're moving on up ... We're getting all the belts, and everyone at 130 [pounds] can get it," Antonio Leonard, who co-promotes Stevenson, told ESPN on Thursday.

Stevenson, 23, won the vacant featherweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Joet Gonzalez in October. On June 9, Stevenson stopped Felix Caraballo in a non-title junior lightweight fight.

"I just didn't want to keep making that weight," Stevenson told ESPN. "I think I should be in the rankings to fight for a title [at junior lightweight] ASAP. I think I deserve it."

At the junior lightweight division, the belts are held by Miguel Berchelt (WBC), Jamel Herring (WBO), Joseph Diaz Jr. (IBF) and Rene Alvarado (WBA).

"We're putting all those guys on notice at 130," said Leonard, adding that Stevenson could be ready to fight again in August. "They can bring the belt, vacate them, because Shakur's going to whup everybody -- it don't matter who it is. We're taking on all comers."

[SOURCE: ESPN]

Newark’s own Shakur Stevenson wins WBO featherweight title!

Former Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson did what he needed to do to get past his latest test in Joet Gonzalez to claim the WBO featherweight title on Saturday night in Reno, Nevada. Stevenson (13-0) used his speed and quickness to outbox Gonzalez (23-1) with craft over the 12-round contest. Stevenson becomes the second youngest active champion in boxing at just 22 years old, only two years older than __ champion Devon Haney.

Gonzalez never truly got his opportunity to take out his frustrations on the Olympian, though, as Stevenson outlanded him 121-53 according to CompuBox. Stevenson was also the more active fighter, throwing 510 punches to Gonzalez's 494.

"It's an amazing feeling," Stevenson said. "I came here to Reno close to his hometown and I wiped him out.

"It's an amazing feeling being that I grinded for this my whole life."

Newark's Shakur Stevenson moves to 9-0 with first round knockout

Blue-chip featherweight prospect Shakur Stevenson, a 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist, scored three knockdowns in a spectacular first-round knockout performance against battle-tested veteran Viorel Simion in the co-feature of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card headlined by the Terence Crawford-Jose Benavidez Jr. welterweight title fight.

Watch the highlights below: