American featherweight Shakur Stevenson 13-0 (7) claimed the vacant WBO featherweight title with a near-perfect performance against Joet Gonzalez 23-1 (14) at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada on Saturday night.
All three judges awarded the fight to the 22-year-old southpaw by scores of 119-109.
The was no love lost between Stevenson and Gonzalez after it was revealed in the lead-up to the fight that the Newark native is dating Gonzalez’s estranged sister Jajaira – something the Gonzalez family does not approve off.
Stevenson said his attempt at reconciliation after the fight was rebuffed.
“I have nothing but respect for Joet. It was personal for him but business for me,” he said. “I told him he is a hell of a fighter, but he didn’t want to talk to me.”
After the fight the bad blood boiled over in the ring with representatives of both camps engaging in some push and shove in the ring.
“It was personal,” Gonzalez said, explaining the post-fight tussle. “It was between me and him, the disrespect he was putting out, he said a lot of things.
“I don’t know how he can say he has no hard feelings when the whole time he was disrespecting our family.”
Jajaira Gonzalez – who is also a boxer – reportedly met Stevenson six years ago while the pair were traveling the amateur circuit.
With his victory Stevenson, who won the silver medal in the bantamweight division at the Rio Olympics, becomes the first member of the 2016 US Olympic team to win a recognized world title.
 claimed the vacant WBO featherweight title with a near-perfect performance against Joet Gonzalez 23-1 (14) at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada on Saturday night.){kind=link}