By the numbers: Stevenson-De Los Santos, Navarrete-Conceicao

Shakur Stevenson returns to the ring Thursday night to face Edwin De Los Santos for the vacant WBC lightweight title. The fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN/ESPN+, 10:30 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPN+ at 5:35 p.m. ET) will be the main event. In the co-main event, Emanuel Navarrete defends his WBO junior lightweight title against Robson Conceicao.

Stevenson (20-0, 10 KOs) is a former featherweight and junior lightweight champion. He also won silver at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics representing the United States. After winning the WBO junior lightweight title with a 10th round TKO victory over Jamel Herring in October 2021, Stevenson added the WBC belt with a unanimous decision victory over Oscar Valdez. in April 2022. But Stevenson lost the belts on the scale when he was unable to weigh in for a title defense against Conceicao in September 2022. He then moved up to the 135-pound division and earned a TKO victory in the sixth round against Shuichiro Yoshino. in April.

De Los Santos (16-1, 14 KO) is an authoritarian southpaw from the Dominican Republic. He has won three consecutive fights, including two by knockout, since suffering the only defeat of his career, a split decision loss to William Foster III in January 2022.

Navarrete (38-1, 31 KO) is a three-division champion who has won 33 consecutive fights (25 by stoppage) and hasn’t lost a fight in more than 11 years. He won the WBO title with a ninth-round TKO victory over Liam Wilson in February and defended the belt against Valdez in August.

Conceicao (17-2, 8 KOs) gets his third title opportunity. He lost to Valdez fighting for the WBC junior lightweight belt in September 2021 and to Stevenson a year later. Conceicao’s most recent fight against Nicolas Polanco ended in a no contest after Polanco was unable to continue following an accidental clash of heads in the second round.

“You’ve got tough Edwin De Los Santos, but I’m here to kick his ass,” Stevenson said during a public workout in Las Vegas on Monday. “I think Edwin is a good fighter. I think he’s more of a boxer than what he’s trying to act. So he’s going to try to move around. And I’m going to find out by the fourth round .”

De Los Santos, who in mid-September accepted the fight after his original opponent Frank Martin withdrew, said he was not there to bow to Stevenson.

“We are not here to hesitate. We are here to fight,” De Los Santos said. “We accepted the fight and we’re going for it. I think at one point I was underestimated. But now he’s accepted the reality that he’s going to have a very tough fight.”

Let’s take a look at both title fights by the numbers, starting with the main event. Information from ESPN Stats and Information and CompuBox was used in this report.

Stevenson vs. De Los Santos

2. This is Stevenson’s second fight at lightweight. He made his debut in the division against Yoshino in April.

24. At 24, De Los Santos can become the youngest Dominican world champion since Rafael Torres in 1989 (he was 23). De Los Santos could also become the third Dominican fighter to win a lightweight title, joining Carlos Teo Cruz and Joan Guzman.

7. Stevenson can become the youngest fighter to win a third division title since Naoya Inoue accomplished the feat in 2019. If Stevenson wins, he will become the seventh fighter to do so all time.

6. Stevenson is looking to become the sixth fighter to be a three-division champion while also winning an Olympic medal. The other five fighters on this list (Sugar Ray Leonard, Pernell Whitaker, Roy Jones Jr., Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather) have all been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. With a victory, Stevenson would also become the sixth fighter to win titles at 126, 130 and 135 pounds and he would be the youngest of that group to achieve this feat.

4. De Los Santos is looking for a fourth straight victory after its only career defeat. If he wins, it will be his first career world title.

155. Of 171 rounds fought over five career world title fights, Stevenson has won 155, according to the three judges who scored those fights (one of those fights ended in a 10-round stoppage, versus Herring, and another for an interim title, against Jeremia Nakathila. ).

13.4. Stevenson allows the lowest power-punch connection percentage. He also ranks second among all fighters in opponent connect percentage with just 13.4% and total opponent punches per round (5.5).

5. This is De Los Santos’ fifth consecutive fight outside the Dominican Republic. His first 13 fights took place in his home country.

Navarrete vs. Conceicao

9. Nine of Navarrete’s last 11 victories have come by stoppage. He hasn’t won consecutive fights by decision since 2016.

3. Navarrete makes the third defense of his WBO junior lightweight title. The Mexican is currently one of the most active fighters in all of boxing, this will be his third world title fight in 2023 (the most in boxing). The co-main event will also be the third world title fight for Conceicao. His only career losses came in his previous two world title challenges (against Stevenson and Valdez).

46.5 Number of powerful punches thrown per round by Navarrete, 10th according to CompuBox.

2. Conceicao is looking to become the second-oldest Brazilian to win a world title (Eder Jofre won a featherweight title at age 37 in 1973). Conceicao won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics at lightweight. He is the first boxer of Brazilian origin to win an Olympic gold medal.

12. Navarrete’s 12 fights and 12 wins in world title fights are both the most in boxing since December 2018.

16. Conceicao won his first 16 professional fights, but he has only one victory in his last three fights.