Stevenson moved up to lightweight in 2023 and made a splash right away. He stopped Shuichiro Yoshino in his debut and then won the vacant WBC lightweight belt by beating Edwin De Los Santos on points. He followed that up with a successful defense against Artem Harutyunyan.
Things were looking good for Stevenson, but then he hit a snag. He had to cancel a fight with Joe Cordina because he hurt his hand while sparring. That was a big disappointment for the young champ.
Now, Stevenson is set to get back in the ring on February 22, 2024. He's supposed to fight Floyd Schofield Jr on the undercard of the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol fight. But there's a bit of worry because Schofield didn't show up to the press conference to announce the fight.
Looking ahead, Stevenson has big plans for 2025. He told Ariel Helwani in an interview that he wants to fight three times next year. He's got his eyes on some big names, too.
"I want to fight Lomachenko, but I'm not very confident it'll happen. I think he's scared because of how our sparring went. Plus, Top Rank might get in the way, and Loma might retire because of his back injury. He's got the IBF belt, so he's got to defend it or give it up."
Stevenson also mentioned Tank Davis as a potential opponent, but that fight faces some hurdles too. Davis has talked about retiring at the end of 2025 and has to defend his WBA belt against Lamont Roach Jr on March 1. So far, Davis hasn't shown much interest in fighting Stevenson.
If those big fights don't pan out, Stevenson has a backup plan. He said he'd love to beat up William Zepeda, calling him a good fighter.
At 27 years old, Stevenson is known as a defensive master in the ring. He's confident his new promoter, Turki, can make things happen for him.
"With Turki, I think he can make a lot of things happen."
Stevenson's comeback fight in February will be a big test. Fans will be watching to see if he can shake off the rust from his injury and get back to his winning ways.