Herring (23-2, 11 KOs), a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who captained the 2012 U.S. Olympic boxing team, has made three defenses of the world title he won via decision over Masayuki Ito in May 2019. After a challenging 2020 campaign that included a bout with COVID-19 and a disqualification victory over Jonathan Oquendo, Herring punched his passport in April and knocked out former two-weight world champion Carl Frampton in Dubai. He now steps up against pound-for-pound talent and 2016 U.S. Olympic silver medalist Stevenson (16-0, 8 KOs), a former WBO featherweight world champion who vacated the title last year to move up to junior lightweight. Stevenson is 3-0 at junior lightweight, most recently picking up the interim WBO junior lightweight world title in June with a shutout decision over Namibia’s Jeremiah Nakathila. Stevenson has lost only a handful of rounds since turning pro in April 2017, a dominant run that’s included victories over the likes of Christopher “Pitufo” Diaz and Joet Gonzalez.