There was a point in the year where Toka Kahn Clary had to make a choice.

A chance to fight on ESPN came at the wrong time on a personal level for the 28-year old Providence native, leaving the squat contender pressed with an inactive period of more than a year. That dilemma was marginally offset through the benefit of a stay-busy fight for the sake of fighting at least once in a pandemic-riddled 2020.

Soon after a rust-shaking 2nd round knockout over journeyman Jonathan Perez this past October came the chance to challenge one of the very best in the game in Shakur Stevenson. 

“Boxing is filled with opportunities,” Kahn Clary told BoxingScene.com ahead of his clash with Newark’s Stevenson (14-0, 8KOs), which takes place this weekend at The Bubble at MGM Grand in Las Vegas (Saturday, ESPN, 10:00 p.m. ET). “Everyone knows my track record. I’m always in the gym. I knew that if I remained positive, an opportunity (like this) would come.”

The clash with Stevenson marks the first at this level for Kahn Clary (28-2, 19KOs) since his October 2018 points loss to then-unbeaten Kid Galahad. A win would have put the southpaw boxer in contention for a featherweight title. Instead, it became a learning lesson as well as his last fight at the weight.

Saturday’s bout will mark his third at 130 pounds, although he was stuck at one for quite some time. A 10-round win over Irvin Gonzalez last August marked the last fight for Kahn Clary for a 14-month stretch before taking a local showcase fight this past August in Warwick, Rhode Island.

In between came the chance to face unbeaten prospect Abraham Nova this past June, which Khan Clary tried to make work. His commitment to the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement—leading a march for justice in his hometown around that time—left him unable to dedicate a full training camp to a fight of such magnitude.

Kahn Clary was willing to settle for the aforementioned knockout win over Perez as his only fight of 2020, with hopes of a fresh start in the year ahead. Now, he gets to end the year on a high note versus Stevenson eager to become the first to defeat the 2016 Olympic Silver medalist and former featherweight titlist.

“We didn’t know the Shakur fight was going to come up,” Kahn Clary admitted. “Before that we hadn’t fought in 14 months. We had to do so something to stay active, so we took that fight (in October). Then my management came through and got me this fight with Shakur.

“I just stayed in the gym, and remained positive. When it came, we were ready to fight. We were already in the gym so it wasn’t a problem. I don’t think I was more than 12 pounds over the limit for this camp. It worked out perfect. It was time. Now it’s time to shock the world.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox