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Shakur Stevenson says people don’t like to watch his fights because ““dominates” their opponents, and they don’t like to see that kind of competition. WBC lightweight champion Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) feels this is why fans hate watching him; It makes their fights so one-sided.
Building a global star
He signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom last summer and will debut for his company against Floyd Schofield on February 22 in Riyadh. Hearn believes he can turn Stevenson into a global superstar. However, that’s how the British promoter is when he signs anyone.
We saw the same thing from Hearn when he inked Jaron Ennis, Richardson Hitchins and Demetrius Andrade. None of those wrestlers have become stars, and Hearn seems to lose his enthusiasm quickly when they fail to become the superstars he hoped for.
We’ll probably see that soon when Shakur performs poorly next month against Schofield. Hearn will stop mentioning Shakur’s name and will be invisible.
Shakur, 27, doesn’t realize why he doesn’t like her. He fails to engage, fails to stay in the pocket, and fights scared when faced with powerful opponents.
The only guys Stevenson dominates are old, slow fighters with marginal talent and no power. He is routinely booed in his fights and lacks the popularity or fighting style to get the big names to fight him.
Fan perceptions
“They’re not just watching to see the knockout. They will receive the knockout if the time comes. “They’ll love it, but they also love watching science, and I appreciate them for that too,” Shakur Stevenson told talkSport Boxing about British fans.
“I’m getting more comfortable with this (being labeled ‘boring’). You have to realize that every night there will be no war. With a style like mine and a boy like me, I am very dominant. I just come in and dominate. People don’t like to see someone come in and dominate.
“I’m pretty much used to being the young, hungry lion. Now I have another young and hungry lion who is younger than me. I definitely don’t think he’s hungrier than me,” Shakur said of 22-year-old Floyd Schofield, whom he will fight on February 22.
Shakur, a native of Newark, New Jersey, will have to start getting used to being the oldest fighter because he is approaching 30. It won’t be long before he is one of boxing’s elder statesmen and has a goal in his back. For wrestlers who rely on their mobility and reflexes, they don’t last long in the sport.
Professional career
“I try to get the big names. I’m trying to get the William Zepedas. I’m trying to get Vasily Lomachenko. If I can’t get these guys, I have to pick the next ones. “This is a guy that has been calling my phone all the time,” Shakur said.
Stevenson would have no problem landing the big names he mentioned if he weren’t a runner, afraid to participate and be booed out of arenas. Fighters like Lomachenko, Zepeda and Gervonta Davis don’t want to have to chase a runner around the ring while fans boo them. They wouldn’t boo them.
It would be Shakur, and it would be a cup of poison to the people watching. You can’t blame the best fighters for not wanting to have anything to do with Stevenson because he doesn’t come to fight.
Hesitating to promote
“After we get through him (Schofield), I would say Zepeda and Gervonta Davis,” Shakur said about who he wants to fight the rest of the year in 2025 after defending against Kid Austin. “I feel very comfortable at 135 pounds. We’ll see after he conquers the division,” Stevenson said when asked if he will move up in weight like Floyd Mayweather Jr. did.
Shakur isn’t willing to move up to 147 to take on the killers in that division because he can’t hit at 135, and he’s already shown that he’s scared to death when fighting power guys.
Although there aren’t many sluggers at the top of the welterweight division these days, fighters like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Eimantas Stanionis and Brian Norman Jr. would feast on a weak, timid, delicate-level fighter like Shakur. I couldn’t run far enough to avoid reaching him. They would bring in Stevenson, hunt him down, and destroy him in that order.
