Shakur Stevenson isn't known for having devastating power, but he suggested otherwise in his fight with Viorel Simion.

The pair clashed in 2018 in what was Stevenson's ninth professional outing, while Simion was the more experienced fighter, with 23 contests on his record.

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But, Simion's experience proved futile as he was knocked out in the first round of the fight.

Halfway through the round, Stevenson landed a heavy right hook that his opponent didn't see coming.

The Romanian's legs wobbled and he dropped down to his knees, although Simion showed some serious bravery to return to his feet and carry on fighting.

After the referee resumed the fight, Stevenson pounced immediately and quickly had the Romanian down again.

For the next minute, Simion desperately held on, being knocked around the ring while on unsteady legs.

Until, with seconds left in the round, Stevenson caught his opponent with a crushing right hook.

His rival was stunned and seemed to be frozen in mid-air facing the wrong direction, before he stumbled into the ropes.

This time the referee had seen enough and mercifully waved off the bout, as Stevenson maintained his unbeaten record.

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The American's impressive stoppage went viral, and saw his name burst on to the scene just fights away from his first world title shot.

Stevenson also at the time spoke about his need for power, after receiving advice from current pound-for-pound ranked star Terence Crawford.

He said after the fight in 2018: “He honestly motivates me to get stronger.

"Because every time he talks to me, he says I ain’t got no power. So I’m gonna keep showing him more and more, just as I wanna show myself, that I’ve got power.”

This saw question marks and Stevenson went on to put together a three-fight win streak before securing a world title shot.

He became a champion at the first time of asking beating Joet Gonzalez in October 2019 to become WBO featherweight champion.

Two years later after vacating his title, he won it back with a thrilling stoppage over fellow American Jamel Herring in October 2021.

It finally put him in his position to unify the division, and he was matched up with stablemate Oscar Valdez.

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Stevenson dropped his undefeated rival before going on to cruise to a points win in April 2022 to add the WBC belt to his collection.

He made one successful defence of his belts before vacating and moving up to the lightweight division in search of big fights.

The American dispatched of Shuichire Yoshino on his debut in the new category before receiving a world title shot against Edwin Los Santos.

He picked up another belt in style to become a two-weight world champion outpointing Los Santos to capture the WBC strap.

The champion will next make a defence of his belt against Artem Harutyunyan on July 6, which he is hoping will see him set up some huge unification clashes.

Gervonta Davis holds the WBA belt and Vasyl Lomachenko holds the IBF belt, but Stevenson is likely to not get a look-in with the pair in talks to unify themselves.

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A three-belt unification could be possible, and fans would clamour for an all-American showdown between Davis and Stevenson.

Top Rank president Todd duBoef is confident that the fight can be made, when it is clear at exactly what weight the fighters will remain.

He said: “I hope so, I think it makes sense. I think those weight classes between 130lbs and 140lbs are brilliant.

“I think there’s a lot of moving and shaking going on there. I think they are all touching the weight classes and can touch all of them.

"Their size is good enough that they can drop in weight to lose three to five pounds and move up in weight to gain three to five pounds.  

“So, I think there’s a lot of fun that can be done there. But we’ve got to get everybody’s expectations to the table.”