Shakur Stevenson won’t know for sure what it’s like to fight at junior lightweight until the opening bell sounds. Having made weight on Monday, though, was a much more satisfying feeling than not having anything to show for his previous training camp.

The unbeaten featherweight titlist will test the 130-pound waters in his next ring appearance, as he faces Puerto Rico’s Felix Caraballo (13-1-2, 9KOs) in a non-title fight. Their clash will serve as the main event of an ESPN-televised card Tuesday evening (7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT), live from MGM Grand Conference Center Ballroom in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Monday’s weigh-inwas one step further than the last time Stevenson (13-0, 7KOs)—who came in right at the 130-pound limit—was due to headline an ESPN card. Plans for the 22-year old from Newark, New Jersey to make the first defense of his 126-pound title versus Colombia’s Miguel Marriaga never saw the light of day, as the event—scheduled to take place March 14 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City—was canceled two days prior due to the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

“It was really bad because of the fact that I trained eight weeks, spent a lot of money on training camp,” Stevenson recalled during a recent media conference call to otherwise discuss Tuesday’s event. “Then to find out that I wasn't getting paid, that kind of made me mad. To find out that I wasn't fighting made me mad because I felt like I put a lot of work in, I felt like I was gonna perform really good. I was mad at that.

“So, it wasn't a good week, but being around my family and friends kind of made it a lot better.”

By his own admission, Stevenson—a 2016 Olympic Silver medalist—spent approximately one month allowing his body to fully recover and replenish from the previous camp before heading back to the gym to do it all over again. General maintenance was employed in order to keep his weight in check before returning to a full training camp for his next assignment, which kicks off a planned summer series by Top Rank.

Tuesday’s event—along with all ESPN shows in the foreseeable future—will take place without fans in attendance, a welcomed compromise by all boxers who just want to move forward with their respective careers. For Stevenson, it’s a makeup call for the March show that never came about, while also trying to decipher whether he is best suited for a higher weight class or if it will be worth it to continue to squeeze into a featherweight frame.

It was a question he was prepared to answer three months ago, before getting the phone call to shut it all down.

“It actually was better than I thought it was gonna go,” Stevenson suggested of his last attempt to make featherweight in March. “But it's still work to get there. It's not easy. I'm a really big 126. “

Barring any more bizarre circumstances, the full answer should come Tuesday evening—though, unfortunately not any sooner.

“I got to see how I feel at 130, at making the 130 weight,” notes Stevenson. “That'd be a question I can answer better for you after the fight. So, right now, no, I can't really give you a spot-on answer. 

“I'd say it's a little bit more comfortable, but I think that I'm really a 130-pounder, honestly what I've been feeling like, for sure.”

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