Shakur Stevenson blames ‘Dominance’ for fan dislike

Shakur Stevenson says people don’t like watching his fights because “dominate” their opponents, and they don’t like to see this kind of contest. WBC lightweight champion Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) thinks that’s why fans hate watching him; makes his fights so one-sided.

Building a global star

He signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom last summer and will make his company debut against Floyd Schofield on February 22 in Riyadh. Hearn believes he can turn Stevenson into a global superstar. However, this is how the British promoter is when he signs someone.

We saw the same in Hearn when he inked Jaron Ennis, Richardson Hitchins and Demetrius Andrade. None of these fighters have become stars, and Hearn seems to lose his enthusiasm quickly when they fail to become the superstars he hoped for.

We’ll likely see that soon when Shakur has a poor performance next month against Schofield. Hearn will stop mentioning Shakur’s name and will be invisible.

Shakur, 27, doesn’t know why he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t compromise, he doesn’t stay in the pocket and he fights scared when facing opponents with power.

The only guys Stevenson dominates are slow, old fighters with marginal talent and no power. He is routinely booed in his fights and doesn’t have the popularity or fighting style to get the big names to fight.

Fan perceptions

“They’re not just watching it to see the knockout. They’re going to take the knockout if it comes. They’re going to love it, but they also love to see science, and I thank them for that, too,” Shakur Stevenson told talkSport Boxing about the British fans.

“I’m more comfortable with that (being labeled boring). You realize every night there’s not going to be a war. A style like mine and a guy like me, I’m very dominant. I just come in and dominate. To people he doesn’t like to see someone come in and dominate.

“I’m kind of used to being the young, hungry lion. Now, I’ve got another young, hungry lion that’s younger than me. I definitely don’t think he’s any hungrier than me,” Shakur said of 22-year-old Floyd Schofield years, with whom he will fight on February 22.

Shakur, a native of Newark, New Jersey, will have to start getting used to being the older fighter as he approaches 30 years old. It won’t be long before he’s one of boxing’s elder statesmen and he’ll have a target. his back For fighters 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 William Zepedas. I try to get the Vasily Lomachenkos. If I can’t get those guys, I have to get the guys who are next in line. This is a guy that has been calling my phone all the time,” Shakur said.

Stevenson would have no trouble getting the big names he mentioned if he wasn’t so much of a runner, afraid to commit, and booed out of arenas. Fighters like Lomachenko, Zepeda and Gervonta Davis don’t want to have to chase a runner around the ring while being booed by fans. 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 not wanting anything to do with Stevenson because he’s not coming to fight.

He hesitates to go up

“After I get past him (Schofield), I’d say Zepeda and Gervonta Davis,” Shakur said of who he wants to wrestle the rest of the year in 2025 after defending against Kid Austin. “I’m very comfortable at 135 pounds. We’ll see after we conquer the division,” Stevenson said when asked if he’ll move up in weight like Floyd Mayweather Jr. did.

Shakur isn’t about to move up to 147 to face the killers in this division because he can’t hit at 135, and he’s already shown that he’s scared to death when fighting guys with power.

While there aren’t many punchers at the top of the welterweight division these days, fighters like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Eimantas Stanionis and Brian Norman Jr. they would revel in a weak, shy, finesse-level fighter like Shakur. He couldn’t run fast enough to avoid him. They would take Stevenson, hunt him down and destroy him in that order.