Shakur Stevenson defends lightweight title by beating Zepeda at home of US Open tennis tournament
NEW YORK (AP) — Shakur Stevenson remained undefeated and defended his WBC lightweight title with a dominant performance in the first boxing card held on the grounds of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, beating William Zepeda by unanimous decision Saturday night.
One judge favored Stevenson 119-109, while the other two had it 118-110 for the 2016 Olympic silver medalist.
Stevenson (24-0) won just before Edgar Berlanga and Hamzah Sheeraz fought in the final bout of the night in Louis Armstrong Stadium, the No. 2 venue at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
But it was a main event-level performance from Stevenson and the first wide victory of the night after the previous two bouts were close right to the finish.
Zepeda (33-1) landed a left hand shortly after the opening bell that drew a smile from the champion, and he was able to get inside a number of times to unload a series of shots at Stevenson. But he was often powerless to stop the flurries that were coming back at him from Stevenson’s hand speed that is up at the top of boxing.
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AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing