According to Mike Coppinger’s sources, Top Rank and Golden Boy promotions are in the midst of ironing out a deal to pit two of their top featherweight prospects against one another in Shakur Stevenson (12-0, 7 KOs) and Joet Gonzalez (23-0, 14 KOs). Should the deal cross the finish line, the two fighters would meet on an October 26th card, expected to stream on ESPN+, for the vacant WBO world featherweight title.
Stevenson, 22, has been one of the hottest prospects in American boxing ever since his Olympic run which was foiled by Robeisy Ramirez in the gold medal round. Stevenson would turn pro shortly thereafter, sign with Top Rank promotions, enlist Andre Ward and J. Prince as managers, and has since racked up 12 professional wins over the past two-and-a-half years.
Meanwhile Gonzalez, 25, hasn’t come to the professional ranks with the same type of fanfare Stevenson has, but he’s rattled off 23 consecutive wins since he turned pro back in 2012. And over the past year Gonzalez has scored three straight stoppage wins, his latest against Manuel Avila in July.
Bottom line: this is a really good fight among two young prospects which should prove to be a solid test for each of them. Too often we get less-than-compelling matchups for world titles, but this certainly wouldn’t be one of them.
Who’s your early favorite to win if it happens?