Shakur Stevenson says people don’t like watching him fight because he “dominates” his opponents, and they don’t like to see that kind of competition. WBC lightweight champion Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) believes this is why fans hate watching him; he makes his fights so one-sided.
It’s interesting how resistant Shakur is to change. He’s not willing to adjust his style to become more fan friendly and get the fights he wants. Stevenson would do himself good to look vulnerable against Floyd Schofield and get knocked out two or three times in their February 22 fight. That’s all it would take for other fighters to face him.
Changes Shakur Needs
– Stay in your pocket
– Throw more punches
– Focus on power
– Stop running
Building a global star
He signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom last summer and will make his debut with his company against Floyd Schofield on February 22 in Riyadh. Hearn thinks he can turn Stevenson into a global superstar. However, that’s how a British promoter is when signing anyone.
We saw the same from Hearn when he wrote Jaron Ennis, Richardson Hitchins and Demetrius Andrade. None of those fighters became stars, and Hearn seems to quickly lose enthusiasm when they fail to become the superstars he had hoped for.
We’ll probably see that soon when Shakur plays poorly next month against Schofield. Hearn will stop mentioning Shakur’s name and he will be invisible.
Shakur, 27, doesn’t know why they don’t like him. He doesn’t commit, he fails to stay in the pocket and he struggles with fear when faced with power opponents.
The only guys Stevenson dominates are slow, old fighters with marginal talent and no power. He is routinely booed in his fights and lacks the popularity or fighting style to get big names to fight him.
Fan Perceptions
“They’re not looking at it just to wait for the knockout.” They will take the knockout if it comes. They’re going to love it, but they also like to see the science, and I appreciate them for that,” Shakur Stevenson said. talkSport Boxing about British fans.
“I’m getting more comfortable with it (marked as ‘boring’). You have to understand that there won’t be a war every night. With a style like mine and a guy like me, I’m very dominant. I just go in and dominate. People don’t like to see someone come in and dominate.
“I’m kind of used to being a young, hungry lion. Now, I have another young, hungry lion who is younger than me. I definitely don’t think he’s hungrier than me,” Shakur said of the 22-year-old Floyd Schofield, who he fights on February 22.
Shakur, from Newark, New Jersey, will have to start getting used to being an older fighter as he climbs in age, approaching 30. It won’t be long before he is one of boxing’s elder statesmen and will have a target on his back . For fighters who rely on their mobility and reflexes, they don’t last long in the sport.
Career Path
“I’m trying to get the big names. I’m trying to get William Zepedas. I’m trying to get hold of Vasily Lomachenko. If I can’t get these guys, I have to get the guys next in line. This is the guy who keeps calling me on the phone,” Shakur said.
Stevenson would have no problem getting the big names he mentioned if he wasn’t such a runner, he was afraid to commit and get booed out of the arena. Fighters like Lomachenko, Zepeda and Gervonta Davis don’t want to chase a runner around the ring while the fans boo them. They wouldn’t be booed.
It would be Shakur, and it would be a cup of poison for the people watching. You can’t blame the top fighters for wanting nothing to do with Stevenson because he’s not coming to fight.
He hesitates to move
“After we get past him (Schofield), I’d say Zepeda and Gervonta Davis,” Shakur said of who he wants to fight the rest of 2025 after he defends against Kid Austin. “I’m very comfortable at 135 lbs. We’ll see after I win the division,” Stephenson said when asked if he’ll move up in weight like Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Shakur isn’t going to move up to 147 to fight killers in that division because he can’t punch at 135, and he’s already shown he’s scared to death when fighting guys with power.
While there aren’t many fighters at the top of the welterweight division today, fighters like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Eimantas Stanionis and Brian Norman Jr. would enjoy a weak, timid, nice fighter like Shakur. He couldn’t run far enough to avoid him. They would bring in Stevenson, hunt him down and destroy him in that order.
