Andreas Heil
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- Andreas Heil is a combat sports reporter for ESPN. Andreas talks about MMA, boxing and professional wrestling. In his free time, Andreas plays video games, is obsessed with music, and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also the host of Fight Nation on Sirius XM. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior correspondent for DAZN and Sporting News. He began his career as a music journalist for publications such as HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated director as the producer of the 2024 animated short film Bridges.
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Zuffa Boxing rocked the boxing landscape with a landmark signing, securing four-division world champion Shakur Stevenson with a multi-fight deal, ESPN confirmed on Thursday.
“Shakur is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. He is 29 years old, undefeated and already a four-division world champion,” Zuffa Boxing co-founder Dana White said in a statement to ESPN. “This is a huge signing with Zuffa Boxing and I look forward to promoting this next fight.”
Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs) is the most prominent and decorated fighter to sign with White’s fledgling promotion, joining Conor Benn, Jai Opetaya, Richardson Hitchins and Edgar Berlanga. The 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist has won world championships at featherweight, junior, lightweight and welterweight. Stevenson is coming off a lopsided win over Teofimo Lopez for the WBO 140-pound title in January and is ranked fifth in ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings. Stevenson is a defensive wizard with an extraordinary mind in the ring, making him perhaps the toughest puzzle in boxing.
According to Compubox, Stevenson leads all championship boxers in plus/minus (23), total connection percentage (40.9%), jab connection percentage (32.3%) and is the hardest boxer to hit with power shots, with opponents connecting at a modest 20.4%.
Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Stevenson had been rumored to have signed with Zuffa Boxing over the past few months and the announcement seemed imminent. Although he has not yet scheduled his next fight, Zuffa Boxing said his promotional debut will be announced in the coming weeks. He has been linked to fights with welterweight champions Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia.
“Line them up one after the other and I’ll beat all the top guys as soon as they get in front of me,” Stevenson said. “With Zuffa Boxing, I’m going to compete in the biggest fights in the sport and become the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”
Stevenson’s weight class is unknown given that Zuffa Boxing does not have a 140-pound division. Given Zuffa Boxa’s frosty relationship with the sanctioning bodies, he is expected to vacate his WBO title. It is also unknown whether Zuffa Boxing will work with other promoters to secure fights with Stevenson, as the promotion currently lacks high-level opponents.