Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, announced last night that WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson will defend his title on October 12 against Joe Cordina (17-1). This fight will be the co-main event of the IV Crown Showdown event, which is headlined by Artur Beterbiev (20-0) vs. Dmitry Bivol (23-0) for the undisputed light heavyweight championship. The Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia will host this card and will broadcast on ESPN+ PPV and DAZN PPV.
Stevenson is coming off of a unanimous decision (116-112, 118-110, 119-109) victory over Artem Harutyunyan in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey. Although the scorecards would tell you Stevenson dominated, this was actually a slow and boring fight. Stevenson did land 44% of his power punches and was finding success with the body but ultimately struggled to show that killer instinct and did not land a knockout.
After this fight, Stevenson’s contract promotion contract ended with TopRank. He will now be working with Alalshikh and fighting in the Riyadh Season events. Even though we haven’t seen him produce marquee knockouts like Gervonta Davis, Stevenson is still only 27 years old and will now have a larger spotlight on him to prove doubters wrong.
Beterbiev, 39, was originally scheduled to take on Bivol, 33, on June 1st of this year. Unfortunately Beterbiev withdrew after suffering an injury during training camp. This matchup will see all four major boxing championships on the line: WBC, WBO, IBO, and IBF.
Four new world championship bouts have been added to this highly anticipated card. Here is how the rest of the card looks on October 12.
Middleweight Bout
Chris Eubank Jr. (33-3) vs. Kamil Szeremeta (25-2-2)
BBBofC British Heavy Title
Fabio Wardley (17-0-1) vs. Frazer Clarke (8-0-1)
IBF World Cruiserweight Title
Jai Opetaia (25-0) vs. Jack Massey (22-2)
Light-Heavyweight Bout
Ben Whittaker (8-0) vs. Liam Cameron (23-6)
WBC World Featherweight Title
Skye Nicolson (11-0) vs. Raven Chapman (9-0)
Bivol is a -120 favorite and Beterbiev is a -105 slight underdog on DraftKings Sportsbook. Stevenson is a heavy -2500 favorite over Cordina, who is +900 to win the bout on DraftKings Sportsbook. Fabio Wardley currently is -140 to beat Clarke on DraftKings Sportsbook. Opetaia is the biggest favorite on this card at -3000 while Nicolson is -525 for her title bout on DraftKings Sportsbook.
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