Shakur Stevenson signs with Zuffa

Zuffa Boxing announced its biggest signing yet, inking a promotional deal with pound-for-pound candidate Shakur Stevenson.

The deal was announced Thursday as the 29-year-old Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs), a native of Newark, becomes one of the cornerstone signings for the newly launched boxing promotion. No details regarding Stevenson’s first fight with the promotion has been announced yet.

“Line them up, one by one, and I’ll beat all the top guys once I get them in front of me,” Stevenson said. “With Zuffa Boxing, I’m going to go after the biggest fights in the sport and I will become the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”

Zuffa President Dana White praised the signing, calling Stevenson one of the sport’s elite fighters.

“Shakur is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world,” White said. “He’s 29 years old, undefeated and already a four-division world champion. This is a massive signing for Zuffa Boxing, and I’m looking forward to promoting his next fight.”

A standout amateur, Stevenson won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games before embarking on a professional career that has seen him capture world championships in four weight divisions.

Stevenson enters the partnership following a unanimous decision victory over Teofimo Lopez in January, a win that earned him a world title in a fourth weight class.

He won his first world title in 2019, defeating Joet Gonzalez for the WBO featherweight title, then moved to 130 pounds, stopping Jamel Herring in 2021 to win the WBO junior lightweight title, which he unified the following year with a dominant win over then-WBC champ Oscar Valdez.

After losing his titles due to missing weight, Stevenson then added the WBC lightweight title in 2023 with a unanimous decision over Edwin De Los Santos, making three defenses before the win over Lopez in January.