'Personal for him, business for me': Boxer Shakur Stevenson beats girlfriend's brother to capture WBO crown
American featherweight Shakur Stevenson came out on top in a feud writ large on the world stage to beat his girlfriend's brother, Joet Gonzalez, to win his first ever world title in Nevada on Saturday night.
Stevenson is dating his opponent's sister Jajaira, who is understood to be estranged from her family as a result, and inflicted the first defeat of Gonzalez's career as he took the vacant WBO featherweight title by a clear-cut, unanimous 119-109 score.
After the fight Gonzalez rejected Stevenson's attempt at reconciliation, with Stevenson saying: "I have nothing but respect for Joet. It was personal for him but business for me.
"I told him he is a hell of a fighter, but he didn't want to talk to me."
Look at this Beautiful defense from Shakur Stevenson . Im telling you hes going to be on that p4p list at some point.#boxing #StevensonGonzalez #espn #toprank pic.twitter.com/7olvyD2oHM
— Chris Deep (@Xdeep13) October 27, 2019
Congrats to the new WBO Featherweight World Champion, Shakur Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs), who defeated Joet Gonzalez (23-1, 14 KOs) by unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada. Scorecards: 119-109 (x3).
— WBO (@WorldBoxingOrg) October 27, 2019
???? M. Williams / Top Rank pic.twitter.com/0voPGQ9Num
The lopsided nature of the result coupled with the heightened rivalry appeared to cause bad blood to spill over into the ring following the fight, as representatives of both camps tussled in the aftermath.
"It was personal," Gonzalez said, explaining the vitriol after the final bell.
"It was between me and him, the disrespect he was putting out, he said a lot of things," said Gonzalez. "I don't know how he can say he has no hard feelings when the whole time he was disrespecting our family."
Jajaira Gonzalez, also a boxer, reportedly met Stevenson six years ago while the pair were traveling the amateur circuit.
Stevenson, who won silver in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, improves his professional record to 13-0 and becomes the first member of the 2016 US Olympic team to win a recognized world title. Gonzalez, meanwhile, falls to 23-1 after the first defeat of his career.