LAS VEGAS – Shakur Stevenson spent a lot of time apologizing following his “bad performance” against Edwin De Los Santos on Thursday night.

The unbeaten Stevenson repeatedly refrained from offering excuses for fighting extremely cautiously against the dangerous De Los Santos. The three-division champion also refused to address speculation that he entered the ring at T-Mobile Arena with an injured left hand, which the typically sharper southpaw barely threw throughout a tedious 12-round bout he won by unanimous decision.

“Like I said, I’m not giving y’all no excuses,” Stevenson told a group of reporters after an unimpressive victory ESPN televised. “I can’t do that. That’s not me, so we walked out victorious, we got the win tonight. I done seen Floyd in situations where he had bad performances versus Carlos Baldomir, other fighters, and he just got the win. And that’s all I was thinking – if Floyd could go in there and get the win on a bad night, I could, too.”

Mayweather has a contentious history with Top Rank Inc., Stevenson’s promoter and Mayweather’s former promoter, yet he sat ringside to watch Stevenson-De Los Santos. The Hall-of-Fame fighter’s promotional company is still affiliated with the most appealing potential opponent for Stevenson, Gervonta Davis, but Mayweather was there to support Stevenson (21-0, 10 KOs).

“Yo, that’s dope. I got Floyd to come to a Top Rank fight,” a laughing Stevenson said. “He came here to support me. I appreciate Floyd. I apologized to him, I apologized to Andre Ward, I apologized to Terence Crawford, all my idols. I put on a bad performance. They came out to see a great performance and I put on a bad one.”

Crawford, boxing’s undisputed welterweight champion, and Ward, a retired super middleweight and light heavyweight champion, walked Stevenson to the ring Thursday night. They have mentored Stevenson since he turned pro early in 2017 and Ward has been part of the Newark, New Jersey native’s management team.

Stevenson informed ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna during his post-fight interview in the ring that he “wasn’t feeling too good” before their fight for a then-vacant WBC lightweight title began. He declined to elaborate on what ailed him before he encountered De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs), but Stevenson indicated that he knew he would have to box the way that he did to ensure a win before he even arrived at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Much of an announced crowd of 6,703 booed loudly at times because Stevenson and De Los Santos didn’t produce much action.

While Stevenson seemed reluctant to engage, De Los Santos didn’t make the necessary adjustments to cut off the ring and often followed the elusive Stevenson around the ring. The Dominican southpaw wasn’t aggressive at times, either.

The 26-year-old Stevenson, who was listed as a 14-1 favorite by BetMGM sportsbook, won eight rounds apiece on the cards of judges Tim Cheatham (116-112) and Steve Weisfeld (116-112). Judge David Sutherland scored seven rounds for Stevenson, who won 115-113 on his card.

“I apologize to my fans,” Stevenson said. “I apologize to everybody if I had a bad performance or if y’all felt I coulda did more. I did, too, so I’m sorry.”

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