Shakur Stevenson says people don’t like watching his fights because he “dominates” his opponents, and they don’t like to see that kind of competition. WBC lightweight champion Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) thinks that’s why fans hate watching him; he makes his fights so one-sided.
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. But that’s how a British promoter is when he signs anyone.
We saw the same from Hearn when he drafted 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 against Schofield next month. Hearn will stop mentioning Shakur’s name and he will be invisible.
Shakur, 27, is not aware of why he is not loved. He doesn’t get involved, doesn’t manage to stay in the pocket and fights scared when facing powerful 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 the big names to fight him.
Fan perceptions
“They are not looking at it just to wait for the knockout. He will receive a knockout if it comes to him. They’re going to love it, but they also love to see the science, and I appreciate them for that,” Shakur Stevenson told the talkSport Boxing about British fans.
“I’m getting more comfortable with it [being labeled ‘boring]. You have to realize that every night, it’s not going to be a war. 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 a bit 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 Feb. 22.
Shakur, a native of Newark, New Jersey, will have to start getting used to being an older fighter as he gets older, approaching 30. It won’t be long before he becomes 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 big names. I’m trying to get William Zepedas. I’m trying to get hold of Vasilij Lomachenko. If I can’t get these guys, I have to get the guys who are next in line. This is the guy who calls me on the phone all the time,” Shakur said.
Stevenson would have no problem getting the big names he mentioned if he wasn’t such a runner, that he was afraid to engage and get booed out of arenas. Fighters like Lomachenko, Zepeda and Gervonta Davis don’t want to chase a runner around the ring while 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.
Undecided to move
“After we pass it [Schofield]I would say Zepeda and Gervonta Davis,” Shakur said of who he wants to fight for the rest of 2025 after defending against Kid Austin. “I’m very comfortable at 135 lbs. We’ll see after I win the division,” Stevenson said when asked if he would move up in weight like Floyd Mayweather Jr. did.
Shakur isn’t about to move up to 147 to take on the killers in that division because he can’t punch at 135, and he’s already shown he’s scared to death when going up against powerful guys.
While there aren’t many players at the top of the welterweight division today, fighters like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Eimantas Stanionis and Brian Norman Jr. would enjoy a weak, timid fighter at a fine level like Shakur. He couldn’t run far enough to avoid reaching him. They would bring in Stevenson, hunt him down and destroy him in that order.
