Shakur Stevenson defeats Edwin De Los Santos to become champ in third weight

Shakur Stevenson became a three-weight world champion Thursday, defeating Edwin De Los Santos by unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC lightweight title at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Newark, N.J. born Stevenson (21-0, 10 knockouts), who had previously held titles at 126 and 130 pounds, never had to get out of first gear, using his southpaw jab to outscore De Los Santos and win by the scores of 116-112 on two cards and 115-113 on the third.

“I had a bad performance tonight. That’s all I’m really focused on. I wasn’t feeling too good, so I’ll live with it. It’s okay. I came here and got the victory, and that’s all I wanted to do,” said Stevenson.

“I just didn’t feel good. I didn’t feel good before the fight. Honestly, I had already told myself that if I feel like this in the ring and if it’s not going well, I’m going to make sure that I box and get the victory.”

De los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs) of the Dominican Republic fell short in his first title opportunity.

“We all know what happened. He came for a track meet. He didn’t come to fight. I showed that I am on a higher level because he never stood and fought like he does with other fighters,” said De Los Santos.

“I did my job. He came to survive. That’s what he did. They gifted him the title, but I’m the people’s champion.”

The two fighters combined to land just 33 power punches, according to CompuBox, while the 40 total punches landed by De Los Santos are the fewest that CompuBox has ever recorded in the company’s 38-year history.

Neither boxer ever landed in double digit in any round, with the nine total punches Stevenson landed in round 9 being the high for the fight.