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American stars clash at sold-out Madison Square Garden
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Stevenson rises to 140lb in bid for title in fourth division
Hello and welcome to tonight’s junior welterweight title fight between Teófimo López and Shakur Stevenson. We’re ringside at Madison Square Garden, where a sold-out crowd is filing in for a matchup that carries both local bragging rights and genuine pound-for-pound implications.
Both López and Stevenson enter tonight’s main event in their primes and with résumés that place them among the most accomplished Americans of their generation. López holds the WBO and lineal championship at 140lb and has built a reputation for producing his best work when expectations run against him. Wins over Vasiliy Lomachenko and Josh Taylor established him as a big-stage performer capable of altering a fight with a single counter or burst of momentum, even if consistency has at times eluded him. The setting suits him: the Garden has served as both proving ground and pressure cooker throughout his career.
