Shakur Stevenson vs Frank Martin Finalized for Nov 16/Dec 9
Shakur Stevenson vs Frank Martin bout for WBC Lightweight Championship is finalized for a date in November or December this year.
Stevenson vs Martin bout was ordered for the WBC title at 135 lbs after Undisputed Lightweight Champion Devin Haney started looking for a fight at 140 lbs division and was declared a champion in recess.
Stevenson and Martin’s teams were given up to today, September 5, to finalize a deal, or a purse bid was to be called at 1 PM ET today. However, Purse Bid was avoided. Boxing Scene’s Keith Idec reported that Top Rank and TGB Promotions(on behalf of PBC Promotions) come to a financial agreement for this lightweight title fight.
Been informed that Top Rank & TGB Promotions have come to an agreement for Shakur Stevenson & Frank Martin to fight on ESPN on a date TBD. The WBC purse bid for their interim lightweight title fight, scheduled for today at 1 p.m. EDT, has been canceled. Story soon @boxingscene.
— Keith Idec (@Idecboxing) September 5, 2023
Stevenson fights on Top Rank promoted shows and is contracted by Antonio Leonard Promotions. Martin is contracted by Man Down Promotion and has fought on PBC promoted shows recently.
Adding to the report on agreement for the fight, ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reported that Stevenson vs Martin is targetted for November 16 or December 9. The fight is expected to take place in New York, and it will air via ESPN in United States on Top Rank ESPN Show.
Shakur Stevenson and Frank Martin have agreed to a deal for a lightweight fight that will likely place on either Nov. 16 in Las Vegas or Dec. 9 in New York as an ESPN main event, sources told ESPN. The WBC purse bid for Stevenson-Martin was scheduled for this afternoon.
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) September 5, 2023
Shakur Stevenson is looking to become a 3-division World Champion in this fight after winning multiple titles at the featherweight and super featherweight divisions. He was forced to vacate WBO & WBC Super Featherweight titles after missing weight before this title defense against Robson Conceicao in September last year.
Stevenson moved up to the lightweight division and defeated Shuchiro Yoshino in WBC Lightweight Title Eliminator to become the mandatory challenger. Apart from his titles, Stevenson boasts of an unbeaten record of 20-0.
Frank Martin is also an undefeated fighter with 18-0 record. He is coming off with a unanimous decision win over Artem Harutyunyan in July this year. He defeated Michel Rivera via unanimous decision in his previous bout.
Martin is ranked at #4 in WBC Lightweight Ranking. Stevenson is ranked at #2. #1 ranked Vasily Lomachencko will not fight this year and is only ready to fight next year. #3 ranked Isaac Cruz is set to fight WBA Regular Lightweight Champion Gervonta Davis.
