The unbeaten former two division champion Shakur Stevenson will fight in Newark for the second straight time as he faces Japanese lightweight Shuichiro Yoshino in a 12-round WBC title eliminator Saturday, April 8th at Prudential Center in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey.

Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs), a former featherweight and junior lightweight world champion, returns home after beating Robson Conceição by unanimous decision last September in front of 10,107 fans at Prudential Center. It was the first time Stevenson had fought at Prudential Center since July 2019. The eighth ranked fighter in The Boxing Source Pound for Pound Rankings is looking to become a world champion in the lightweight division, and a win here could put him in position to fight for one in the near future.

“I am taking over the lightweight division and my run will start on April 8th in Newark,” Stevenson said. “Shuichiro Yoshino is an undefeated fighter who was willing to step up and fight me when so many fighters were scared. My last fight at the Prudential Center was just the start of what I’m building in Jersey. We are going to pack the Prudential Center again and show the world who the future of boxing really is.”

Yoshino (16-0, 12 KOs) is ranked number five in the WBC lightweight rankings and is coming off of two wins against Masayuki Ito last April and Masayoshi Nakatani last November, both in Saitama Japan. This will be Yoshino’s first fight in the United States, and he hopes to become the first man to defeat Stevenson.

“I am very honored to be fighting in the U.S. for the first time. I’m extremely focused and motivated,” Yoshino said. “I’m looking forward to fighting the great two-division champion, Shakur Stevenson, in his hometown of Newark. I’ll be training hard leading up to the fight and look forward to showing the fans an exciting victory!”

Also included in this fight card in Newark is undefeated heavyweight Jared Anderson in a ten round bout against an opponent to be named later plus US silver medalist Keyshawn Davis against an opponent to be announced in the future. Anderson defeated Jerry Forrest and Davis beat Juan Carlos Burgos at Madison Square Garden last December in the same card. These fights along with Stevenson-Yoshino will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN, Deportes and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

Damian Knyba is another undefeated heavyweight that will be part of this card on April 8th, and featherweight Bruce Carrington will be on the undercard as well. Those fights will be shown live on ESPN+ before 10pm Eastern time.

Cover photo by Mikey Williams of Top Rank