RIO DE JANEIRO — U.S. boxer Shakur Stevenson reached the Olympic bantamweight final by walkover Thursday after Russian semifinal opponent Vladimir Nikitin was ruled out with an injury.
When Stevenson, a Newark native, fights Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez on Saturday, he will win either gold or silver, the first of either medal for American men since Andre Ward’s gold in 2004.
“I always want to fight, but once I found out I wasn’t fighting [Nikitin], I kind of liked it,” Stevenson said. “I can use the extra days off. Once I found out I wasn’t fighting, I just kept moving to Saturday.”
Ramirez, the London Olympics gold medalist at flyweight, advanced with a masterful victory over Uzbekistan’s Murodjin Akhmadaliev while Stevenson watched from the stands.
“I paid close attention to it,” Stevenson said. “He had a tough opponent from Uzbekistan, and he got it done. He made it look easy, and we’re about to get after it, I swear.”
Stevenson is an elite 19-year-old prospect with sophisticated boxing skills and remarkable athleticism. He hasn’t lost an international bout in his amateur career, and he received a preliminary-round bye as a seeded fighter in Rio before beating Brazil’s Robenilson de Jesus and Mongolia’s Erdenebat Tsendbataar, both by unanimous decision.
The U.S. men won just one bronze medal in Beijing and none at all in London. With light flyweight Nico Hernandez’s bronze medal and Stevenson’s win, the Rio men’s team will leave the Olympics with two medals for the first time since Athens 12 years ago.
Nikitin sustained heavy damage in three consecutive brutal fights, culminating in a pounding Tuesday from Irish world champion Michael Conlan. Nikitin still received the decision in a hard-fought bout, prompting an outraged Conlan to denounce the international boxing association and Russia as conspirators in corruption.
Stevenson has been widely expected to begin his pro career with Top Rank Promotions this fall, but Floyd Mayweather tweeted Wednesday that he wished to “extend a warm welcome to @ShakurStevenson into The Money Team family.”
Mayweather runs an eponymous promotional company, but has no stars under contract with the potential drawing power of Stevenson.
Stevenson declined to confirm he had teamed up with Mayweather to be his promoter or in another capacity, grinningly saying he hasn’t even decided whether he will go pro.
“Nothing is decided yet,” Stevenson said. “I’m going to focus on winning the gold medal, and after I win the gold medal, I’m going to weigh my options and see what’s next for me.”
But Stevenson spoke glowingly of the retired champion after meeting him earlier in the Rio tournament. Mayweather, who attended Stevenson’s fights, subsequently refereed to Stevenson as “the next Floyd Mayweather.”
“If he calls me and tells me stuff, I’ll take it, but I’m focused,” Stevenson said. “I’m ready. It don’t matter who I talk to.”