Shakur Stevenson is in better shape than ever after his lackluster performance in his world title fight against Edwin de los Santos on Nov. 16 in Las Vegas, says trainer Robert Garcia. He said it could be avoided.
Robert feels Shakur’s value was diminished in the fight, in which Shakur won a 12-round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC lightweight title.
Shakur would retreat several feet each time de los Santos launched an attack, and when he would chase him he would run to catch him and tie him up. It didn’t feel like a boxing match. The fight looked like fencing, but the blame was on Shakur.
There’s virtually no chance that Shakur (21-0, 10 KOs) and Top Rank’s promoter will get a big fight between Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia or Vasily Lomachenko.
They won’t have to chase Shakur around the ring and last Thursday’s match against De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KO) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Stevenson’s contract with Top Rank expires after his next fight, but Top Rank could give him a new contract if they believe he can change his style.
But given that Shakur has been playing this way since his amateur days, his boring, timid, safety-first style is so ingrained in their minds that re-signing them could spell trouble for them. right. He’s not going to change no matter what.
Shakur Stevenson’s value has gone down, bad.
“There’s no one willing to challenge him. There’s no one who’s like, ‘Oh, I want to fight Shakur,’ because he doesn’t bring any excitement to the fight,” said trainer Robert Garcia. 210 Boxing TV discussing how Shakur Stevenson’s recent lackluster performance against Edwin de los Santos will affect his career.
“I know this for a fact, but His value has dropped considerably, like bad.” Robert said of Shakur Stevenson. “Haney himself said, “I was too generous in giving him 25 percent. His value has certainly gone down, so I should give him 10 percent.”
If Top Rank wants to pay top fighters like Lomachenko, Haney, and Teofimo big money to face Shakur, it could happen, but this fight could be a big hemorrhage for the promotional company. expensive.
It’s a gamble for Top Rank to spend a lot of money on a top-level fighter to face Shakur, and they hope they don’t lose a lot of money on this fight and then he becomes a PPV star. . It may be a stupid idea, but I have to do something with this guy.
It makes no sense for Bob Arum to spend so much money on Shakur. Because he couldn’t do the same thing as two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux when he competed for the top ranks.
He also had a boring style, but was very powerful and scored knockouts with one punch, although Arem always complained about his dullness. Rigondeaux was a much more interesting fighter than Shakur, and a much better amateur fighter than the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, who kept running away in the finals, losing to Cuba’s Robesy Ramirez.
Asked whether Shakur or Haney would win, Robert said, “It would be the same thing.” “A fight with Shakur is going to be a fight with Haney, who’s not a particularly brawler or an aggressive fighter. It’s going to be a boring fight. I don’t know who the judges want to give it to.
“I was there until the first four rounds. Everyone was booing,” Robert said of the Shakur vs. De Los Santos fight. “It was tough, it was sad. Everyone was booing.
Asked if Shakur would have to do more to beat Gervonta Davis, Robert replied, “He has to.” “He has to do that in the next fight because if he performs better in the next fight, people will forget his last performance.”
Stevenson needs to make a statement in the next game.
“I don’t care who he fights, I don’t care who it is. He has to go out and make a statement,” Garcia said. “I’m not saying he’s going to knock everyone out, because he might not have the power to knock them out like Tank does. But he’s going to go out and fight. We need to show the world that.”
Shakur said the week of the De Los Santos fight that he wanted Lomachenko next, and it sounded like he was demanding it.
Some believe that Shakur will never rise to the top ranks again unless Lomachenko is given away, but it is unlikely that the Ukrainian talent would agree to face Shakur next.
Top Rank will likely offer Shakur his next WBC lightweight title defense against Raymond Muratala, but Shakur is likely to veto that idea. Muratala is dangerous and will probably chase Shakur around the ring to knock him out.
Shakur knows it will be a tough fight for him as Muratala is not lacking in courage and his ugly pulling style will not work against him. To defeat Muratala, Shakur will have to fight him in the trenches, but he may not last long with this man in such a battle.
“If you look at his aggressive performance and want to prove something positive to the world, people will forget his performance against De Los Santos, but if he doesn’t “The situation won’t change,” Robert said.
“That’s the thing. I don’t know if the world is going to be excited about that fight,” Robert said of who would win between Gervonta and Shakur.
“If he [Shakur] He went into the fight and dominated, and I’m not saying he got knocked out, probably because he doesn’t have the power, but he at least dominated against De Los Santos and tried and got a convincing win. If we get it, people will want to watch the game. [between Shakur & Tank.
“But right now, nobody cares about him against Tank, honestly. I don’t care about that fight right now,” said Robert.
It won’t be easy to beat Shakur
“It was a boring a** fight. I was there for the first four rounds, and then I went home,” said Robert. “He’s one of the better fighters in the world. He’s very talented, but he fought too cautious, too careful, and didn’t take a chance.
“But even if your opponent is dangerous, you still got to take a little chance to show the fans and the people a little bit more, and he didn’t.
“He just did whatever it took to win his third world title in three divisions, but it didn’t help him, especially if he wants to fight someone like Tank or those big fights against Haney and stuff like that. It hurt him a little.
“The way he fought, if he continues to fight like that, it’s going to be hard to beat him because he doesn’t take chances. He doesn’t allow his opponents to [land]. You need someone like Marcos Maidana who fights like a street fighter, and you can tie him to the ropes and make him land punches because he was too careful.
“Honestly, no one wants to fight him anymore because of the way he fights. Imagine anything worse after this,” says Isaac Pitbull Cruz in the ring following his match with Shakur. Garcia said when told he turned it down because he didn’t want to.
“The lightweight division is heavy, but for him [Shakur] He needs to make a statement to come back and have a big game. As long as you play carefully for the first four or five rounds, you should be fine. The same goes for tanks.Tank was losing many rounds [Ryan] Garcia,” Robert said.
Shakur won’t play in big games
“Tank was losing a round against Rory, but then he did what he had to do and knocked them out,” Garcia said. “That’s what Shakur needs to show the world: ‘Okay, I’m smart and I’ll fight carefully for the first few rounds, but then I’ll go out and do my job.'” didn’t do that [against De Los Santos].He continued to fight for 12 rounds. [timidly].
“I took off after the fourth round. I went home. Shakur did well enough to win the round. Maybe he wanted to secure the title. He won’t do that. I hope he doesn’t because he’s very talented. He has a great future and is one of the best fighters in the world, but that performance hurt him.
“He needs to come back and show the world he’s not going to do that again. I don’t like him or know him, but I just know he’s a great fighter. He was clearly dominant and I thought he would perform as a pound-for-pound fighter should, but that wasn’t the case.
“Yes, he is [Shakur] do [have a lot to prove], he has a lot to prove, especially after the last game. To be honest, I don’t think Teofimo wants to fight him,” Robert said when asked who would win against WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez, who is promoted by the same Top Rank company as Shakur.
“Who would want to fight him after seeing his performance? You know it’s going to be a slow, stinky fight. Who would want to fight him? Tank doesn’t want to fight him.” Robert said.
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