On Sat., Jan. 31, 2026 in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden crowd, Shakur Stevenson, the WBC lightweight (135 lbs.) champion (25-0, 11 KOs) won the WBO Jr. welterweight (140 lbs.) title by defeating Teofimo Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs). Shakur now has four weight championship titles.
At the sound of the first bell up until the 12th and final round, Shakur put on a masterful boxing performance. Teofimo had no answers for Shakur’s speed, punch combinations, and ring movement and IQ. At the end, Teofimo’s swollen, bruised, and bloody face was the evidence of Shakur’s dominance. There seemed to be a sense of panic from Teofimo’s trainer and father Teofimo, Sr., imploring his son to do better as the fight progressively slipped away from him.
After 12 rounds, all three judges were agreed that Shakur won decisively, unanimously scoring the fight 119-103. Haiti Liberté agreed with the judges’ scorecards.
In the post-fight press conference, Shakur said he plans to return to the 135 lbs. division unless there was a big fight opportunity at 140 lbs.. At that point, British boxing star and contender Conor Benn (147 lbs.) climbed into the ring and challenged Shakur, who immediately accepted on the condition that there is a “no rehydration” clause in their fight contract.
Benn is a welterweight fighting at 147 lbs. But some fighters are known to dehydrate their bodies to a lower weight to fight smaller fighters. Then they rehydrate their bodies, gaining 10 lbs. to 25 lbs. in the 24 hours after the official weigh in on Friday night. That gives them an unfair strength advantage over their opponent on Saturday’s fight night. Benn stated he would not agree to a rehydration clause.
Ironically, Benn got super-middleweight (168 lbs.) adversary Chris Eubank Jr. to agree to “no rehydration” clauses for two fights. Benn and Eubank split the fights (1-1), with Benn winning the last one.
There was further talk of Shakur vs. Benn at Wembley Stadium at the official post-fight press conference. Shakur eventually deferred the questions to his manager and promoter Eddie Hearn, who said there is talk of a fight between Benn and WBA welterweight champion Rolly Romero. Shakur’s management stated that a Shakur vs. Benn fight likely won’t happen because of the “no rehydration” clause, but a fight may be possible if there’s enough money in it.
Most fans and writers want to see Shakur return to the 135 lbs. division (lightweight) where he is still the WBC champion to face Gervonta “Tank” Davis, the WBA lightweight champion, who is “in recess” due to some legal troubles outside of boxing.
In the interim, there are other champions and contenders for Shakur to face such as newly crowned WBO champion Abdullah Mason and IBF champion Ray Muratalla. Contenders include Andy Cruz, who lost a close decision to Muratalla last week, hot prospect Floyd Schofield, interim WBC Jr. welterweight champion Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz, or Lamont Roach. If he continues to win as he did last Saturday, Shakur has many options before setting up a mega-fight for the highly anticipated return of the popular “Tank” Davis.
Toussaint Robbed in Bout with Williams
On the undercard, Haitian fighter Wendy “The Haitian Fire” Toussaint (17-3, 7 KOs), fighting out of Huntington , NY on Long Island, came in as a late replacement for WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames of the Dominican Republic.
Adames surprisingly withdrew from the defense of his title against contender Austin Williams (20-1, 13 KOs) due to a reported health scare from cutting or losing weight to make the required 160 lbs. limit for middleweight. The fight was scheduled for 10 rounds.
Toussaint made the most of the opportunity from the first bell to the fight’s end. Working Toussaint’s corner was the famed trainer of multiple former world champions, Kevin Cunningham. Toussaint came forward and was the aggressor. He outworked Williams with good combinations and scored at will.
In the 4th round, Toussaint scored a knockdown to the surprise of many in the arena. To Williams credit, he beat the count and continued the fight. Williams had his moments. He would score well in spurts, but it was not enough to convince onlookers and this writer that he was beating Toussaint.
The Haitian fought like he should have been challenging Adames for the world title, not Williams. But at the end of the 10 rounds, the judges shockingly awarded the fight to Williams. Two judges scored the fight 99-90, while the third scored it 98-91. Haiti Liberté scored the fight eight rounds for Toussaint, and two rounds for Williams.
Other Fights
In the co-main event, former WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis (14-0, 10 KOs) faced Jamaine Ortiz (20-3-1, 10 KOs) in a 12-round fight. Keyshawn was moving up to the 140 lbs. division after losing his title on the scales for not making the 135 lbs. weight limit and his fight was cancelled. He reportedly got into a fist fight in the arena lockerroom with an opponent who defeated his brother on the same card that he was scheduled to fight.
Keyshawn, who was looking for redemption and to put the past behind him, was on the offensive the entire fight, while Ortiz was on the defensive. Keyshawn was able to stop Ortiz in the last round by scoring the elusive technical knockout that he was looking for in his debut in the 140 lbs. division.
At the post-fight press conference in the ring, Keyshawn challenged WBO welterweight champion (147 lbs.) champion Devin Haney as both camps seemed to be bantering on social media before Keyshawn fought Ortiz. That fight seems likely.
A fight between Keyshawn and Shakur is not likely as Shakur says he will not fight his friend Keyshawn. A fight between Haney and Keyshawn would be interesting. This writer would favor Haney to defeat Keyshawn due to size and experience.
In a WBC featherweight fight, Bruce “Shu-Shu” Carrington (17-0, 10 KOs) of Brooklyn defeated Carlos Castro (30-4, 14 KOs) for the title. The early rounds were close and competitive. The fight seemed to be up for grabs. However, “Shu-Shu” began to find his rhythm in the 9th round, putting together a vicious and impressive combination that laid out Castro on the canvas. He could not recover. The time of the stoppage was 1:29 into the 9th round. At the official post-fight press conference, “Shu-Shu” made his plans clear: fight the top fighters in the division and unify with the other champions.
In a heavyweight bout, contender Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (27-1-2) fought Kingsley Ibeh in a 10 rounder. The fight was not entertaining at all in the first round, as Kingsley appeared to be out-landing punches and outboxing Miller. However, he fight did become entertaining in the 2nd round when Kingsley landed multiple punches, and Miller’s hairpiece almost fell off his scalp, much to the surprise of most in attendance.
Before the start of the 3rd round, Miller pulled off his toupee and threw it into the crowd to continue the fight. At the end of the match, Miller was surprisingly awarded the decision. Two judges scored the fight 97-93 for Miller, while the other judge scored the fight 96-94 for Ibeh. Haiti Liberté was in agreement with the third judge also scoring the match for Ibeh.
During post-fight press conference in the ring, Miller addressed why he wore a hair piece. He cited that he confused bleach for shampoo at his mother’s home thereby causing his hair loss. He called himself a clown and vowed to return to the ring soon.
In a welterweight fight, underdog Kevin Castillo (6-2-2-1) upset the favorite and well-backed Saudi fighter Zyad Al Maayouf (7-1-1, 1 KO) in a welterweight match up. Castillo outboxed Maayouf, being the smarter and more aggressive fighter. At the end of the match, two judges scored it 77-74, while the third judge scored it 78-73. It will be interesting to see if Maayouf continues with his boxing career.
It was a great night of boxing in early 2026, courtesy of promoter Turki Al-Sheikh with Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn.
Contact Ralph B. Rimpel at Rl*********@*ol.com
