Shakur Stevenson targeted for March 14 title defense against Miguel Marriaga

It looks like WBO featherweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs) is currently on track for a spring return where he’s currently looking to be lined up against Miguel Marriaga (29-3, 25 KOs) in a March 14th title defense at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater. Mike Coppinger had his sources confirm the news, which is expected to be a precursor to a summer unification fight with Josh Warrington, who currently holds the IBF title.

Stevenson, 22, is most recently coming off a dominant performance against Joet Gonazlez last October, when he won the vacant WBO strap in his 13th professional fighter.

Meanwhile Marriaga, 33, is an aging veteran out of Colombia who is coming off a series of soft touches following back-to-back defeats against Oscar Valdez and Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2017. He’s since won four straight fights by stoppage, but obviously not against anyone of Stevenson’s talent level.

Should this fight come off, it looks like it’ll serve to get Stevenson a little more seasoning before he goes off to potentially face a much bigger threat in Warrington.