Stevenson retains WBC title with underwhelming victory

Shakur Stevenson (right) represented the United States at the 2016 Olympics

American Shakur Stevenson retained his WBC lightweight title with an underwhelming points victory over Artem Harutyunyan in New Jersey.

Stevenson, 27, outclassed his Armenian opponent in a bout he was always comfortable in.

He was awarded the victory with the judges scoring the fight 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112 in his favour.

At the end of the fight there were some boos from the crowd but Stevenson defended his performance, saying "It's kind of hard to prove it if you don't got a fighter trying to fight back".

Speaking to ESPN he added: "I want to fight the best fighters.

"That's how you're going to get to see the best version of me, when you put me in the ring with somebody else that wants to fight back and compete."

Stevenson, who has previously been featherweight and super-featherweight champion, remains unbeaten since his professional debut in 2017.