Former WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring 24-4 (12) says he sees signs that Edwin De Los Santos 16-1 (14) will give Shakur Stevenson 20-0 (10) the toughest fight of his career when they meet for the vacant WBO lightweight title at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Thursday night.
The 24-year-old Dominican southpaw jumped at the opportunity to fight for his first world title against the skillful Stevenson, 26, a fellow lefthander who hails from Newark, New Jersey.
Herring has history with Stevenson, who won every round en route to a 10th round stoppage to lift the WBO 130-pound belt from the 38-year-old Cincinnati southpaw two years ago.
Herring sees De Los Santos as the type of hungry young contender that has the ability to upset the applecart.
“I’m watching [De Los Santos’] demeanour and he was poking the bear with Shakur,” Herring said to MillCity Boxing.
“You can tell that he’s up for this fight. He really believes in himself. He took less money than they were offering Frank Martin to make the fight. That tells you right there that he’s going for legacy.
“He looks at it like, ‘If I win here, the money is going to come’ but again, it’s a good match-up.
“I think it can go twelve. I give [Stevenson] a 70% chance just because of the tools that he has.
“All it takes is one punch to turn a fight around. I think it’s disrespectful to count someone out of a fight, especially someone as hungry as [De Los Santos] is. This is boxing. We’ve seen surprises before. Andy Ruiz wasn’t supposed to beat [Anthony] Joshua and that’s what I’m saying.
“That’s why we love the sport. Anything can happen but again, if I was a betting man, of course I would lean towards Shakur Stevenson.
“If [De Los Santos is] a fighter that is coming in with different styles, that’s a smart fighter. I would never judge a man’s hunger and determination to go after something.
“Let’s be honest. They went down the [WBC] list and no one else was trying to fight that man [Stevenson]. It was one thing or another to try and get Shakur a fight to begin with.
“When [De Los Santos] got the opportunity, I think he could have called his number on the table on what he wanted. He took less. They only paid $400,000 for this fight. [Top Rank] were offering Frank Martin a million and he didn’t ask for even half of that.
“That right there shows how hungry he is. He just wants the belt. He wants to be a champion.”
Herring returned with a quick knockout of previously undefeated Nicholas Molina 13-1 (5) last week, stopping him in the opening round of their scheduled eight rounder at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan, New York on November 7. It was his first bout in 18 months.
