By Keith Idec

NEWARK, N.J. – The thing Shakur Stevenson heard most from the dozens of children that surrounded him Wednesday was that they want to see him knock out his opponent Saturday night.

Stevenson didn’t make any promises to them during a promotional appearance at a Newark recreation center, but the undefeated featherweight contender intends to deliver what those kids from his hometown want. The 22-year-old Stevenson (11-0, 6 KOs) is scheduled to meet Mexican veteran Alberto Guevara (27-4, 12 KOs) in a 10-round main event ESPN will televise Saturday night from Prudential Center, a short drive from the Newark neighborhood where Stevenson grew up.

“They wanna see me knock somebody out,” Stevenson told krikya360.com. “I’m gonna try my best to give it to them. I don’t wanna put no more pressure on myself, but that was really the main thing they said.”

Scoring a knockout essentially was all Stevenson didn’t do in his last fight, an impressive, 10-round, unanimous-decision victory over Puerto Rico’s Christopher Diaz (24-2, 16 KOs) on April 20 at Madison Square Garden.

“That was definitely the only thing that didn’t satisfy me about that fight,” Stevenson said. “A knockout Saturday would mean a lot to me.”

The 2016 Olympic silver medalist won his previous two bouts by knockout, but against lesser opposition than Diaz, a former world championship challenger at 130 pounds.

The 28-year-old Guevara, of El Cajon, California, has been knocked out only once since he turned pro in November 2009. Japan’s Shinsuke Yamanaka (27-2-2, 19 KOs) knocked out Guevara in the ninth round of their November 2013 fight for Yamanaka’s WBC bantamweight title.

In his three other losses, Guevara has gone the distance with WBA featherweight champ Leo Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KOs), former IBF bantamweight champ Emmanuel Rodriguez (19-1, 12 KOs) and Hugo Ruiz (39-5, 33 KOs).

Guevara lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Mexico’s Ruiz in his last fight, January 19 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. He took this fight with Stevenson on less than two weeks’ notice, once Colombia’s Franklin Manzanilla (18-5, 17 KOs) withdrew due to an illness.

Guevara is the third opponent for which Stevenson has prepared during his recently completed training camp. His original opponent, Miami’s Hairon Socarras (22-0-3, 14 KOs), pulled out of their fight about a month ago.

“I ain’t gonna lie – I don’t know too much about him,” Stevenson said of Guevara. “I didn’t watch too much tape of him. I kind of got frustrated watching seven different people in camp, so I didn’t really get to watch too much of him. But the fights that I did watch, I wasn’t really impressed.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.